Union Peace Conference 21st Century Panglong

The Union Peace Conference - 21st Century Panglong (Burmese: ပြည်ထောင်စု ငြိမ်းချမ်းရေးညီလာခံ (၂၁) ရာစု ပင်လုံ) is a peace conference which began on 31 Aug 2016 in Myanmar Convention Centre 2 of Naypyidaw, Myanmar.

The first Panglong Conference was held in the Panglong region of British Burma in 1947, and was negotiated between Aung San and ethnic leaders. Despite several meetings between ethnic insurgent groups and the government prior to the Panglong Conference in 2016, it is unclear how many of them will actually attend.

Eighteen ethnic insurgent groups are expected to attend the conference, whilst three ethnic insurgent groups (The Arakan Army, the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, and the Ta'ang National Liberation Army) are not expected to attend. Ban Ki-moon, the Secretary-General of the United Nations also attended the opening ceremony. United Wa State Army had left the conference saying they were allowed only as observer. It is planned to hold the conference in every six month until the agreement is reached and negotiations and political dialogue will be continued however in the upcoming peace conference it will be allowed only to the insurgent groups who have signed the NCA agreement.

The conference was chaired by Lt-Gen Yar Pyae from Tatmadaw, Tin Myo Win from government, Shila Nan Taung from parliament, Khun Myint Tun from ethnic armed group and Myint Soe from political parties. Ethnic armed groups called for federal system that guarantees justice, equality, self-administration and protection of racial, religious and political rights of ethnic minorities.

On 15 October, Burmese government announced the Seven Steps Roadmap for national reconciliation and union peace.

1. To review the political dialogue framework
2. To amend the political dialogue framework
3. To convene the Union Peace Conference—the 21st Century Panglong in accordance with the amended and approved political dialogue framework
4. To sign union agreement— the 21st Century Panglong Conference Agreement based on the results of the 21st Century Panglong Conference
5. To amend the constitution in accordance with the union agreement and approve the amended constitution
6. To hold the multi-party democracy general elections in accordance with the amended and approved constitution
7. To build a democratic federal union in accordance with the results of the multi-party democracy general elections