This frame grab taken from state-run Myanmar Radio and Television (MRTV) video footage released on April 1, 2025 shows Myanmar's military chief Min Aung Hlaing (2nd R) with military generals and officials observing a minute of silence for earthquake victims in Naypyidaw. (Photo by Myanmar Radio and Television / AFP)
Yangon: Myanmar's junta chief will travel to Bangkok on Thursday for a regional summit, the military government said, despite the country grappling with the aftermath of a devastating earthquake.
Min Aung Hlaing will join a gathering of leaders of South Asian countries plus Myanmar and Thailand to discuss the response to the 7.7-magnitude quake which has killed nearly 3,000 people.
The trip will be a rare foreign excursion for the head of the isolated nation. Since seizing power in a February 2021 coup, he has mostly only travelled to his main arms supplier Russia, and main economic partner and political backer China.
"State Administration Council Chairman Prime Minister Senior General Min Aung Hlaing will travel to Thailand on April 3 to attend the sixth BIMSTEC Summit, and will attend the meeting on April 3 and 4," the junta said in a statement.
It added Min Aung Hlaing will discuss with other leaders Myanmar's quake situation "and ways to cooperate with the international community to effectively carry out relief (and) rehabilitation".
All the main leaders from the seven BIMSTEC countries -- Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand -- are expected to attend the summit.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrives in Bangkok on Thursday for talks ahead of the meet with his Thai counterpart Paetongtarn Shinawatra.
Thailand has proposed that the leaders issue a joint statement on the impact of the diaster when they meet on Friday -- one week on from the day the quake struck.
The tremors destroyed buildings across large areas of Myanmar, and even caused damage in Bangkok itself, hundreds of kilometres away, flattening a tower block under construction and killing more than 20 people.
Min Aung Hlaing's attendance at the summit is something of a diplomatic coup for the isolated government, as it breaks with a regional policy of not inviting junta leaders to major events since the military seized power in 2021.
The main Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) regional bloc, which has led so far fruitless diplomatic efforts to resolve the Myanmar crisis, has refused to invite Min Aung Hlaing to its gatherings over their failure to make progress on an agreed peace plan.
Four years of civil war put Myanmar in a parlous state even before the quake, but the junta on Wednesday joined its opponents in calling a temporary halt to hostilities to allow relief to be delivered.
