Japan, U.N. envoy agree to step up calls for Myanmar democratization

TOKYO, Feb. 12 Kyodo - Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone and visiting U.N. special envoy to Myanmar
Ibrahim Gambari agreed Thursday to step up joint efforts to press the Myanmar
junta for democratization, Foreign Ministry officials said.

Gambari, who made a four-day visit to Myanmar last week, also agreed with
Nakasone on the need to ensure that parliamentary elections in Myanmar
scheduled for 2010 will be held in a fair manner acceptable to the
international community, the officials said.
In response to Nakasone's reassurance that Japan continues to support the U.N.
envoy's efforts to spur democratic change in Myanmar, Gambari expressed hopes
that Japan will play a leading role to this end, they said.
Gambari's latest visit to Myanmar, his seventh since taking up the post in
2006, included meetings with detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi,
Prime Minister Gen. Thein Sein and other political leaders.
==Kyodo