YANGON: Myanmar will begin long-planned talks with armed ethnic groups at the end of the month, as the government’s de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi targets peace as a prelude to rebooting the economy.

Several complex ethnic conflicts simmer across Myanmar’s poor and militarised borderlands, hampering efforts to build the country’s economy after the end of junta rule.

Some groups who fought the army for decades have signed ceasefires but those are fragile, adding urgency to Suu Kyi’s task. For the first time, peace talks will include groups that have ceasefires in place as well as those outside of the agreements. “The first meeting of the ‘21st century Panglong’ conference will be held on 31 August,” according to a statement posted late Monday on the Facebook page of State Counsellor Suu Kyi.—AFP