Myanmar agrees to tackle causes of migrant crisis: Thai official

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Myanmar agrees with a wide-ranging plan to deal with the root causes of Southeast Asia's migrant crisis, a Thai Foreign Ministry official said on Friday at the conclusion of an international meeting on migration. A statement at the end of the meeting in Bangkok included a paragraph that called for addressing factors in the areas of origin of migrants, including "promoting full respect for human rights" as well as investing in economic development. "Myanmar agreed to this paper," Norachit Sinhaseni, permanent secretary of Thailand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told reporters. While some of the migrants are Bangladeshis escaping poverty at home, many are members of Myanmar's 1.1 million Rohingya Muslim minority who live in apartheid-like conditions in the country's Rakhine state. Myanmar does not consider them citizens. (Reporting by Amy Sawitta Lefevre; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)