Feb 11, 2009 (DVB), Burmese economist Myo Myint gave a talk on economic freedom, market economics and the current financial crisis at the National League for Democracy headquarters at about noon on 10 February.

Party spokesman Nyan Win said the talk was attended by around 100 party members and the central executive committee.

"He talked about recession, what a market economy is and what it means, and the consequences of the lack of economic freedom," Nyan Win said.

Myo Myint also talked about the current economic crisis and the reasons for the lack of success of a market economy, Nyan Win said.

"He emphasised the fact that there could be no market economy if there is no political freedom and if it is dominated by elites and he also talked about inflation," he said.

Myo Myint studied at the former Leningrad Financial-Economic Institute during the Soviet era and at the International Monetary Fund Institute in Washington DC.

From 1968 to 1988 he was deputy director of the Ministry of National Planning and Economic Development.

He was imprisoned from 1997 to 2004 for his pro-democracy political activities.

Reporting by Aye Nai