The announcement by the Myanmar Government that it plans to hold a constitutional referendum in May, and “multi-party democratic elections” by 2010, marks the first establishment of a timeframe for the implementation of its “political roadmap process.”

In light of this announcement, the Secretary-General renews his call to the Myanmar authorities to make the constitution-making process inclusive, participatory and transparent in order to ensure that any draft constitution is broadly representative of the views of all the people of Myanmar.

In this regard, he believes it is now all the more important for the Myanmar leadership to engage without delay in a substantive and time-bound dialogue with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and other relevant parties to the national reconciliation process.

The United Nations remains ready to continue to support this process with the cooperation of the parties concerned.

The Secretary-General believes this latest development also makes it essential that a visit to Myanmar by his Special Adviser, Ibrahim Gambari, be allowed to proceed without further delay.

Ibrahim Gambari is planning to be traveling to the region very soon.  He is scheduled to visit Beijing 18-19 February, and intends to go from there to Jakarta and Singapore.

Asked about a request from the “Generation 88″ students that the Secretary-General visit Myanmar, the Spokeswoman said that the Secretary-General was aware of the group’s statement, but added that no visit was planned at this point.

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