Myanmar's Ambassador to the Phillipines, U Thaung Tun, has confirmed that his country plans to restart the crucial process aimed at drafting a constitution as early as October.
 "We have to make a compromise and a compromise takes time. The National Convention has decided that we will go forward by consensus. That is the only way to ensure that we will survive as a nation."
Myanmar's efforts to draft a constitution via a national convention composed of a variety of ethnic and political groups has been said as a step towards democracy.
Tun said the convention could reopen anytime after the rainy season ends, from October to May.
It would consist of 1,088 delegates from more than 130 ethnic groups vying for power and territory.
He said about 75 per cent of the work to draft a constitution has been done and the rest concerns the thorny issue of power-sharing.
However, Tun said that the ruling junta was not likely to invite pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy to take part, after the group refused to participate in the past.
Critics dismissed the convention as a sham because of the absence of Suu Kyi's party, a major group opposed to the junta.
"Come December, come the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit, we will be able to indicate when this convention will be complete. And once this convention is complete, we will have a constitution and then they will tell you when the referendum will be and when the elections will be."
Tun said the ruling junta is unlikely to invite Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy, which has refused to take part in the convention in the past.
He refused to comment on whether his country intended to comply with international demands for Suu Kyi's release.
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Director: Liu Chi