UN chief concludes Myanmar visit

YANGON, July 4 (Xinhua) -- United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon concluded his two-day official visit to Myanmar and left the country Saturday evening.

During his stay in the country's new capital Nay Pyi Taw, Ban had two meetings with Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council Senior-General Than Shwe on Friday and Saturday, according to a report of the state-run Myanmar Radio and Television (MRTV) Saturday.

Dealing with the cooperation issue with the United Nations, Than Shwe said, as a UN member, Myanmar would like to cooperate with the world body and expressed thanks for its aid to his country in its relief and rehabilitation tasks in the post Cyclone Nargis period, the report said.

Touching on the issue of Myanmar's forthcoming general election in 2010, Than Shwe told Ban that his country would continue to follow its seven-step roadmap and promulgate in time the Election Law which is being drawn to fairly enable organization of political parties for entering the election and being inclusive, it said.

Upon Ban's request to meet Aung San Suu Kyi, Than Shwe maintained that as Aung San Suu Kyi, along with U.S. citizen John William Yettaw, is under trial, his request was therefore turned down, the report said.

At the meetings, Ban said the U.N. agreed to Myanmar's seven-step roadmap, saying that the organization wants to see the country's 2010 election be democratic and inclusive, according to the MRTV report.

Ban expressed wishes to extend more aid for Myanmar's post-storm reconstruction.

Before the conclusion of his Myanmar trip, Ban gave a nearly-an-hour public address in Yangon's Anti-Drug Museum Saturday evening. Diplomats, UN agencies, non-governmental organizations and media reporters attended the event.

During his Myanmar visit, Ban also met with the leadership of 10 legal political parties and ethnic peace groups.

Ban also inspected the reconstruction site in cyclone-hit Ayeyawaddy division's Dedaye.

Ban's present Myanmar visit represented the second since May last year when the country was struck by Nargis and suffered the heaviest casualties and massive infrastructural damage in a century mainly to Ayeyawaddy and Yangon divisions.