by Feng Yingqiu
YANGON, March 7 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar's second meeting of its 21st Century Panglong Peace Conference, a dialogue open to all ethnic armed groups, is set for late March.
The greatest national endeavor of the new government is to continue trying to resolve one of the world's longest-running civil wars. Towards this end, the government has made the peace process a priority and has initiated the all-inclusive dialogue of all invested stakeholders.
The terms and conditions of the Nationwide Ceasefire Accord (NCA), which the Panglong Conference will be based on, should be followed both in spirit and by the letter, the official Global New Light of Myanmar stressed in an editorial on the matter on Monday.
The NCA represents the first step not only towards peace but also towards the establishment of the long-hoped for democratic federal union.
Although some armed groups have already signed the NCA, there are still some who, for various reasons, have not done so.
As future political dialogue needs to be based on the NCA, the government has been making every effort to ensure the participation of the non-signatories, emphasizing the fact that national reconciliation is the concern of all union citizens.
The government, led by the National League for Democracy (NLD), has, since its inception, aimed to hold political negotiations based on the Panglong spirit and the principles of finding a solution through the guarantee of ensuring equal rights, mutual respect and mutual confidence between all ethnic nationalities.
The government vowed not to repudiate its responsibility in bringing together all ethnic nationalities and has been quick to quash any speculation over unequal treatment towards any specific nationalities.
The editorial maintained that: "So long as we are unable to achieve national reconciliation and national unity, we will never be able to establish a sustainable and durable peaceful union. Only when our country is at peace will we be able to stand on an equal footing with other countries in our region and countries all over the world."
To resolve political problems that lie at the root of armed groups, the editorial stressed that the most crucial element is to work together with mutual understanding and trust to seek a solution.
Noting that democratic change does not happen overnight and is in fact a hard-fought process, the editorial called on its national brethren to exercise the Panglong spirit and while using considerable restraint focus on resolving the problems, rather than inflaming them to ensure that all stakeholders are receptive and play an effective role in the democratization process.
Meanwhile, in order to handle international assistance for the peace process, Myanmar formed the Joint Coordination Body (JCB) for Peace Process Funding on Dec. 20, 2016.
This is headed by State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi, who stressed the need to practise a parallel approach to give protection to and promote the benefits of the country's indigenous people while negotiations are taking place to ease the conflicts.
She reiterated that the government has been making efforts for inclusiveness through the country's peace process and is inviting those who have not yet done so, to sign the NCA and join the 21st Century Panglong Conference.
Myanmar's previous government and eight armed groups initiated the NCA on Oct. 15, 2015 and the first meeting of the 21st Century Panglong Conference was held in Nay Pyi Taw between Aug. and Sept., 2016, five months after the NLDD-led new government took office, while the second is planned for late March.
Aung San Suu Kyi has pledged her commitment to achieving lasting peace in the country in 2017, anticipating that the country's peacemaking efforts will meet with success in the new year.
Meanwhile, in January Myanmar started holding regional and race-oriented political dialogues in areas and states across the nation.
The outcome of all regional dialogues will be submitted to the upcoming second meeting of the Panglong Peace Conference.
