31 October, Nay Pyi Taw
A Myanmar delegation led by Dr. Thida Oo, the Chairperson of the ASEAN Law Association (Myanmar), Union Minister of the Ministry of Legal Affairs and Attorney-General of the Union attended the 43rd ASEAN Law Association Governing Council hybrid Meeting via virtual meeting platform, which was held in Bandung, Indonesia according to the invitation of H.E. Sundarash Menon, the Chairman of ASEAN Law Association (ALA) and Chief Justice of Singapore, and the Chief Justice H.E. Muhammad Syarifuddin, the Chairman of ASEAN Law Association (Indonesia).
In the meeting, Dr. Thida Oo, the Union Minister and Attorney-General of the Union said that Myanmar would closely cooperate with ASEAN countries to develop ASEAN region; Myanmar complied with the ASEAN Charter as a member state; Myanmar had joined ASEAN Law Association since 2012 and ASEAN Law Association (Myanmar) was cooperating in its activities and various programs; in addition, Ministry of Legal Affairs was cooperating with the member countries in legal matters of the relevant Committee of ASEAN Law Association; Myanmar had enacted the Arbitration Law in 2016 relating to the Alternative Dispute Settlement Mechanism in Myanmar; the State Administration Council had amended the Code of Civil Procedure on 11th October, 2021 and civil disputes were settled by the Mediation means in courts; moreover, as the duty to disseminate legal knowledge is on Ministry of Legal Affairs, MOLA not only established Myanmar Law Information System (MLIS) in order to give legal information but also conducted legal training courses for governmental staff from government departments and organizations; in such training courses, subjects on the international law, criminal law (Penal Code), civil law, Civil Procedure Code, Commercial Contracts, Constitutional Law and other relevant laws concerning with the governmental staff were addressed; Myanmar ratified ASEAN E-commerce Agreement in 2018 and Digital Economy Road Map 2018-2025 was also being implemented as well as E-commerce Law and Cyber Security Law were also being drafted; ASEAN Law Association is a place where professionals from various legal fields gathered and it was the only place to exchange legal knowledge and information; she also said that she believed that the outcomes from this meeting will be beneficial to fulfil the ASEAN Motto of “One Vision One Identity One Community”
The 42nd ALA Governing Council Meeting Record, ASEAN Law Institute Annual Report 2022 and Workplan 2023 were approved in the meeting and the operation of Alternative Dispute Settlement Mechanism in ASEAN Countries and the implementation matters on ASEAN legal instruments were also discussed openly.
(MOLA’s news)