ASEAN ministers to meet Myanmar counterpart for first talks since coup

ASEAN foreign ministers will meet Myanmar’s top diplomat in Bangkok on Sunday for the first in-person talks since the 2021 coup. The session will be informal, and the Philippines, which holds ASEAN’s 2026 chairship, says ministers will use it to hear a briefing on conditions in Myanmar and to discuss possible concrete steps on ending violence, constructive dialogue and humanitarian assistance.

ASEAN’s Five-Point Consensus, agreed in Jakarta on April 24, 2021, calls for an immediate end to violence, dialogue among all parties, the appointment of a special envoy, humanitarian aid through the AHA Centre and a visit by the envoy to meet all parties. In 2024 and 2025, ASEAN said Myanmar remained an integral part of the bloc and there had been no substantive progress on the plan.

UNHCR’s Myanmar data page, updated July 6, lists 3,814,100 internally displaced people and 4,523,661 people of concern overall. The United Nations’ 2026 humanitarian plan puts 16.2 million people in need of assistance and more than 4 million displaced. A United Nations report in early July put the post-coup death toll at more than 100,000 and said the military had intensified aerial attacks and massacres, even as it denies accusations of widespread atrocities.

ASEAN agreed to the Bangkok meeting at its May 2026 summit after a briefing from the chair’s special envoy for Myanmar, Philippine Foreign Secretary Ma. Theresa P. Lazaro. The Philippine foreign ministry says Myanmar remains an integral part of ASEAN, and the ministers will exchange views on cessation of violence, constructive dialogue among the parties and humanitarian assistance.

Min Aung Hlaing made his first state visit to an ASEAN member state since becoming president when he traveled to Laos last week. ASEAN has kept Myanmar’s military rulers out of high-level political representation while still preserving a channel for engagement.