Yangon, 4 Aug — Peace negotiating teams from the government and ethnic armed groups will conclude mediation on 6 August in Yangon over three points left pending after the previous round of talks, a senior adviser at
the Myanmar Peace Centre said Tuesday.

With the talks over a draft National Ceasefire Accord in the final stage, both sides will finalize the truce pact at the ninth round of talks, MPC senior adviser U Hla Maung Shwe told The Global New Light of Myanmar.

He described the three unresolved points set to be finalized in the upcoming round as “meeting agreements”.

“I have an understanding that negotiations will proceed smoothly, reaching compromise solutions over who the NCA signatories and international witnesses should be,” the MPC senior adviser said.

“International witnesses and signatories to the deal were among the topics between the President and leaders of four ethnic armed groups in Nay Pyi Taw on Monday.”

During the July talks, the ethnic side proposed international organizations
including the United Nations, ASEAN and the European Union, as well as seven countries including the United States, the United Kingdom, Norway,
Japan, China, India and Thailand, be set as international witness to the signing of the NCA.

But, whether or not the signing will be “all-inclusive” remains a point of contention between the leaders of the two sides, he added.

The ethnic side’s demand for the inclusion of all armed groups in the signing process was a source of disagreement at the previous round.—GNLM