Sri Lanka defended the invitation to the new foreign minister of Myanmar’s junta to a BIMSTEC meeting, scheduled for the next month, saying Sri Lanka as the chair of BIMSTEC has invited all member states including Myanmar.

The invitation drew flak on social media, as some users accused the Sri Lankan government of endorsing the military coup in Myanmar. 

“Sri Lanka as the Chair of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) and the host of the Ministerial Meeting has invited all Member States (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, and Thailand) to participate in the discussions in order to finalize documents of the 5th BIMSTEC Summit expected to be held later this year in Sri Lanka,” the Lankan foreign ministry was quoted as saying by Colombopage.

The ministry also added that it took notice of several social media posts that criticized its invitation. Earlier, there were also some protests in parts of Sri Lanka against the military coup in Myanmar.