Myanmar says it has abandoned nuclear ambitions

SINGAPORE – Myanmar Defense Minister Hla Min says his country has given up any ambition to develop a nuclear power program.

Min told an Asian security summit Saturday in Singapore that Myanmar has stopped "all activities on nuclear issues" since it moved away from decades of military rule last year.

The assurance is the latest step in an international charm offensive by the new civilian government.

Min said at the IISS Shangri-la Dialogue that Myanmar previously studied nuclear power "as an academic subject" but never to develop weapons.

Defectors in the past have said Myanmar was secretly seeking to develop atomic weapons.

The former military regime denied that and also said that a project to develop a 10-megawatt nuclear power plant had been stalled.