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ASEAN Summit Closes With Call To Scrap Myanmar Sanctions


Asian leaders pose for a photograph during the opening ceremony of the 20th ASEAN summit in the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh.
Asian leaders pose for a photograph during the opening ceremony of the 20th ASEAN summit in the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh.
Southeast Asian leaders have called on Western countries to immediately lift punitive sanctions on Myanmar in the wake of the elections in the country that was ruled for decades by a military regime.

The leaders of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) -- of which Myanmar is a member -- made the call at the close of a summit on April 4 in the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said ASEAN leaders "feel very satisfied and pleased" with Myanmar’s "free, fair and transparent" by-election on Sunday.

The opposition National League for Democracy, led by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and former political prisoner Aung San Suu Kyi, won 44 of the 45 seats that were being contested in the vote.

Based on reporting by AP and dpa

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