Visit by Myanmar Parliamentary Delegation to ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute

Friday, 5 August 2016 – U Zaw Thein, Chairman of the Lower House International Relations Committee and Member of Parliament (National League for Democracy), Pyithu Hluttaw; and Daw Htoot May, Secretary of the Upper House International Relations Committee, and Member of Parliament (Arakan National Party), Amyotha Hluttaw, Myanmar; visited ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute today. U Zaw Thein and Daw Htoot May, en route the 8th ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA) Caucus in Vientiane, also met with parliamentarian counterparts in Singapore. Myanmar will host the 37th AIPA General Assembly in the last quarter of 2016.

Group Photo –  Seated with Director of ISEAS, Mr Tan Chin Tiong (middle) are the two Myanmar parliamentarians – U Zaw Thein (Right) and Daw Htoot May (Left). Second Row (Left to Right): Ms Moe Thuzar, Co-coordinator, Myanmar Studies Programme, ISEAS and Dr Termsak Chalermpalanupap, Lead Researcher (Political & Security Affairs), ASEAN Studies Centre (Source: ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute)

The Myanmar parliamentarians were briefed on the mission and work of the Institute since its establishment in 1968. The Myammar parliamentarians were keen to know more of the research efforts of the Institute’s Myanmar Studies Programme, ASEAN issues, and concerns pertinent to the AIPA discussions. Mr Tan Chin Tiong, Director of ISEAS; Dr Termsak Chalermpalanupap and Ms Moe Thuzar, (also Co-coordinator of the Myanmar Studies Programme at ISEAS) from the ASEAN Studies Centre, briefed them. The Myanmar parliamentarians expressed an interest in linking or highlighting video recordings of past ISEAS seminars on various topics relevant to the region on the Myanmar Hluttaw website.

U Zaw Thein and Daw Htoot May also took the opportunity to observe a public seminar at ISEAS on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

Speakers and moderator at the TPP Seminar (Source: ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute)


The two Myanmar parliamentarians observing the TPP Seminar on Investor-State Dispute Settlement and Intellectual Property (Source: ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute)

The Myanmar parliamentarians then visited the ISEAS Library and was briefed by the Head of ISEAS Library, Mr Pitt Kuan Wah, on the Library’s extensive collection of Burma/Myanmar and Southeast Asian titles.

Head of ISEAS Library, Mr Pitt Kuan Wah giving a short introduction on the huge collection of Burma/Myanmar titles during the quick ISEAS Library tour (Source: ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute)