A high-ranking Myanmar official has praised New Zealand's system for helping Maori regain their land.
Myanmar is making moves towards developing a democracy after decades of military rule.
Mynamar's Speaker of the Upper House, U Khin Aung Myint with New Zealand's Speaker of the House, David Carter. Photo: Photography By Woolf
Its government is also in the middle of peace negotiations with ethnic groups, which have been fighting for more autonomy and land rights.
Speaker of the Upper House U Khin Aung Myint is leading a delegation to learn as much as possible about New Zealand's constitutional arrangements.
He said he was impressed by how the New Zealand Government and Maori had worked out ways to resolve their differences.
The group was at Parliament on Wednesday to hear the Maori Affairs Select Committee outline its role and give a briefing about the process used to settle land grievances.
New Zealand's representative in Myanmar, Bruce Shepherd, said the government there was negotiating with 14 ethnic groups who were fighting for their land rights.
"The peace process that's going on in Myanmar at the moment is negotiations with armed ethnic groups," Mr Shepherd said.
"They saw that there is possibly some parallels in how we in New Zealand conduct our Treaty settlement process, and we whether or not those lessons could be applied to their peace process that's going on in Myanmar."
The flag of Myanmar. Photo: AFP
