Rangoon – Burma has put in a bid to host the South-East Asian Games (SEA Games) of 2013 at the military’s new capital of Naypyitaw, media reports said Monday.“The Sports Minister has confirmed that the government has decided to host the 2013 SEA Games,” Sai San Tun, a member of SEA Games preparation committee, told local journalists over the weekend.

“We have started discussions with other sports federations here in preparation for the games,” he said.

The SEA Games are held every two years. Laos hosted the regional event in 2009, and Indonesia is slated to host the games in 2011.

According to official sources, the Burmese ruling junta wants the SEAGames to be held in Naypyitaw, the country’s capital since late 2005. Naypyitaw is situated about 350 kilometres north of Rangoon.

Burma, which has been under military dictatorships since 1962, was one of the founding countries of the SEA Games.

The country first hosted the regional sports event, then called the South-East Asian Peninsular Games, in 1961, and was again host in 1969. It has not hosted the event since.