Dansk parti-institut åbner politisk dialogcenter i Burma

Laurits Holdt

Dansk Institut for Flerpartisamarbejde åbnede for nylig et ”flerparti-dialogcenter i Burmas hovedstad. Håbet er, at landets politiske partier vil bruges stedet som neutral grund og inspiration til samarbejde på trods af politiske forskelle.

During the visit of the DIPD (Danish Institute for Parties and Democracy – Dansk Institut for Flerpartisamarbejde) political dialogue delegation to Myanmar, the opening reception in the new premises of the Multiparty Dialogue and Resource Center also took place on 28th September 2014 with participation of more than 35 representatives of political parties in Myanmar.

At the opening DIPD Chair Henrik Bach Mortensen gave the following speech:

Dear political parties of Myanmar

It is a great pleasure and an honor for me to be able to open the Multiparty Dialogue and Resource Centre here in these premises at the 10th Floor just next to Sule Pagoda.

We have been looking for a long time for a suitable place and hope these premises will serve us all well.

The Political Party Resource and Dialogue Centre is part of our Multiparty Democracy programme in Myanmar and we will also be having our offices here.

It is a privilege this morning to be in the company of so many distinguished political party leaders, members of executive party leaderships and indeed members of the political parties.

I am here in my capacity as Chair of the Board of the Danish Institute for Parties and Democracy and I was very pleased to participate in seminar with many of you yesterday on political dialogue, how to make political accords on crucial issues and how parties compete but also how parties cooperate.

As you know our organization in Denmark is itself a multiparty platform. The Danish Institute for Parties and Democracy was established in 2010 by the members of Parliament and all the political parties in the Danish Parliament are represented on our Board.

We are a young organization in a very old democracy. Our new strategy it based on the hope and the philosophy that perhaps we can offer ideas and experiences that may inspire you. And that we in our partnership will also be inspired by you.

The dialogue and resource centre is exactly to be a place for inspiration, knowledge building and dialogue for the political parties.

The Centre will build a library with documentation and literature and manuals on a large range of topics of interest to political parties in Myanmar – electoral processes, party development, youth in political parties, democracy and human rights etc.

It will provide computers with access to international libraries and resource centres, it will provide a neutral ground for holding meetings and drinking coffee and it will provide technical advice in areas of your interest.

We will hold small dialogue cafes to learn and discuss many of the issues that you raised yesterday in the workshops.

We will have a website in local language where your contributions can also be presented.

So use it – the success of the Centre is that there is a quee below in front of the elevator, because it is well visited and used! Please also come to us with your ideas as to what activities can be carried out here jointly by the political parties.