The Nationalities Brotherhood Federation (NBF) said it welcomed the quadripartite meeting hosted by President Thein Sein in Naypyidaw on Friday and urged all parties to come together for political dialogue at a national level.
NBF is an alliance of 15 ethnic parties who support establishing a federal system in Burma.
In a statement released on Friday evening after the talks, the NBF announced that a conference involving all major ethnic political parties and armed groups would be scheduled in the near future.
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Ba Shein, a representative of the Rakhine National Party, said the meeting between “outlawed’ ethnic armed groups and ethnic political parties would be helpful in establishing peace as the groups are all directly concerned about ethnic affairs.
“We think it would be helpful if the government played a role in helping to arrange such a conference,” he said, adding that Friday’s meeting involving the president, Commander-in-Chief Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing, National League for Democracy Chairperson Aung San Suu Kyi and ethnic leaders was “a positive move”.
The NBF statement called for the signing of a nationwide ceasefire before the end of the year, and the setting up of a framework for political dialogue before the 2015 general elections, which are slated for the end of October or beginning of November next year.