Envisioning the Future of Post-Coup Myanmar
Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun, Deputy Minister Moe Zaw Oo, Khin Lay, Professor Edmund Malesky
Join Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun, Deputy Minister Moe Zaw Oo, Khin Lay of the Women Advocacy Coalition (Myanmar), and Professor Edmund Malesky for a conversation on envisioning the future of post-coup Myanmar, co-hosted by the Duke Center for International Development, Duke Global and the Duke Asia/Pacific Studies Institute.
About the speakers
Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun assumed the role of Permanent Representative of Myanmar to the United Nations in 2020. Prior to this appointment, he was Myanmar's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Office and other international organizations in Geneva, as well as the Conference on Disarmament, from July 2018 to October 2020. He concurrently served as Ambassador to Switzerland, as well as Permanent Representative to the World Trade Organization (WTO) and to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Moe Zaw Oo actively participated in students' demonstrations and later nationwide uprisings in 1988 when he studied at the Rangoon Arts and Science University. Then he joined the National League for Democracy led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in 1988. He was arrested in 1990 for his involvement in political activities and released in 1999. He received a master's degree after studying at the Chulalongkorn University in Thailand while he was in exile. Upon return to Myanmar in 2012, he served as a deputy Chief of Staff to the office of the NLD Chairperson - Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and then became the Chief of Staff of the office in 2016. He received a degree from post-graduate course of international strategic studies at the Royal College of Defence Studies in London in 2017. He served as an advisor to the Union Peace Commission up to the end of 2020. He was appointed by the CRPH and the National Unity Consultative Council as a deputy minister for Foreign Affairs of the National Unity Government of Myanmar in 2021.
Khin Lay is a women's rights activist and the founding director of Triangle Women Organization. She is dedicated to promoting the status of women in Myanmar through individual empowerment and structural reforms. Her organization works to build the capacity of the women leaders to assume leadership roles in politics and public life. Through her organization, Khin Lay is a leading advocate for legal and policy reforms that promote gender equity and women's empowerment. She is also leading efforts to protect women and girls who are survivors of sexual and gender-based violence.
Professor Edmund Malesky is a specialist on Southeast Asia, particularly Vietnam and serves as director of the Duke Center for International Development. His research agenda is very much at the intersection of Comparative and International Political Economy, falling into three major categories: 1) Authoritarian political institutions and their consequences; 2) The political influence of foreign direct investment and multinational corporations; and 3) Political institutions, private business development, and formalization.