Women Leaders’ Working Group Statement on Burma/Myanmar

The following is the text of the statement on Burma/Myanmar by the Women Leaders' Working Group issued today in New York.

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The Women Leaders' Working Group reiterates the call for the immediate release of fellow woman leader Aung San Suu Kyi and urges the Government of Burma/Myanmar, as a matter of urgency, to end violence against peaceful demonstrators and resume a path of dialogue and democracy with its people.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik convened the Third Meeting of the Women Leader's Working Group. Participants of the Third Meeting of the Women Leaders' Working Group:

• Meritxell Mateau, Foreign Minister of the Principality of Andorra
• Ursula Plassnik, Federal Minister for European and International Affairs of the Republic of Austria
• Dame Billie A. Miller, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade and Senior Minister of Barbados
• Lisa Shoman, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade of Belize
• Antoinette Batumubwira, Minister of External Relations and Cooperation of the Republic of Burundi
• Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Croatia
• Erato Kozakou-Marcoullis, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Cyprus
• Benita Ferrero-Waldner, Commissioner for External Relations of the European Commission
• Nino Burjanadze, Speaker of the Parliament of Georgia
• Dora Bakoyannis, Foreign Minister of Greece
• Kinga Goncz, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Hungary
• Ingibjorg Solrun Gisladottir, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Iceland
• Renuka Chowdhury, Minister of Women's Affairs of the Republic of India
• Tzipi Livni, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Israel
• Olubanke King Akerele, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Liberia
• Rita Kieber-Beck, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Liechtenstein
• Joyce Banda, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the Republic of Malawi
• Sahana Pradhan, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Nepal
• Aichatou Mindaoudou, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Cooperation, and African Integration of the Republic of Niger
• Rawya bint Sa'ud Ahmed Al Busaidi, Minister of Higher Education of the Sultanate of Oman
• Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, President of the Republic of the Philippines
• Alberto Romulo, Foreign Minister of the Philippines
• Anna Fotyga, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland
• Sheikha Lubna al-Qassami, Minister of Economy and Trade of the United Arab Emirates
• Huda Ali Abdul-Latif al-Ban, Minister for Human Rights of the Republic of Yemen