Myanmar's junta chief will attend a regional summit in Bangkok next week, a spokesman said Thursday, a rare foreign trip outside close allies Russia and China, as he struggles to tame a spiralling civil war.

Min Aung Hlaing will travel to the Thai capital for a gathering of leaders of South Asian countries plus Myanmar and Thailand, junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun told reporters, saying the visit offered "potential for peace".

Since seizing power in a February 2021 coup, he has mostly only travelled to his government's main arms supplier Russia, and its main economic partner and political backer China.

The surprise announcement came after Min Aung Hlaing insisted that a planned election will go ahead despite the conflict, in a speech to thousands of soldiers and dignitaries at the annual Armed Forces Day parade.

"He will attend. We are also trying to meet with leaders of BIMSTEC members countries separately," junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun told journalists in the capital Naypyidaw.

"We expect to get potential development for Myanmar, potential for peace, potential for our economic development through this meeting."

He also said that Aung San........

© International Business Times