UN special envoy Mr Ali Alatas is greeted at Yangon International airport by the Indonesian ambassadior, Mr Wyoso Prodjowarsito, last Thursday.

A SPECIAL envoy of United Nations secretary-general Kofi Annan met the Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council, Senior General Than Shwe, last week to discuss plans to reform the world body.

Mr Ali Alatas, the special envoy for Asia and the Pacific on UN reforms, met Senior General Than Shwe on August 19, the day after arriving in Yangon for a three-day visit.

Mr Alatas told reporters after the hour-long meeting that it had focused on a number of issues, including a proposed increase in the number of permanent members on the Security Council.

The visit by Mr Alatas, a former Indonesian foreign minister, came ahead of a summit of world leaders in New York next month to discuss the reform process, which is aimed at making the UN more efficient at responding to global issues.

Mr Alatas said he was impressed by preparations Myanmar had made for the three-day summit, which begins on September 14.

“I found the government of Myanmar is quite well prepared on all these issues, they have talked about this and they have their views on that,” he said.

Mr Alatas said he was also due to meet members of the National Convention Convening Commission, headed by the Secretary-1 of the SPDC, Lieutenant-General Thein Sein, who was to brief him on progress made by the convention since it reconvened last year.

The visit by Mr Alatas is part of a tour of several Asian nations.

Mr Alatas last visited Myanmar in September 2003 as a special envoy of then Indonesian president, Mrs Megawati Sukarnoputri.