Myanmar junta chief to join leaders' summit in Thailand, seeks bilateral meetings, sources say

Myanmar's junta chief Min Aung Hlaing will attend a regional leaders' summit in the Thai capital next week and is seeking bilateral meetings on the sidelines, three sources with direct knowledge said on Friday.

The trip to the April 3-4 BIMSTEC summit in Bangkok will be a rare foray by Min Aung Hlaing to a Southeast Asian country since he seized power in Myanmar in a 2021 coup that led to a civil war. He is the subject of western sanctions and is barred from meetings of the Southeast Asian bloc ASEAN for failing to implement an agreed peace plan.

The sources declined to be identified because they were not authorised to speak on the issue. A spokesperson for Myanmar's military government could not immediately be reached for comment and Thailand's foreign ministry did not immediately confirm his attendance.

BIMSTEC, or the Bay of Bengal initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation, includes Thailand, Myanmar, India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bhutan.