Trudeau to meet with Myanmar leader Suu Kyi at APEC summit Friday

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will meet Myanmar leader Aung San Suu KyiFriday on the sidelines of the APECleaders' summit in Vietnam, the Prime Minister's Office has confirmed.

The meeting comes as the southeast Asian country faces a refugee crisisand accusations of gross human rights abuses against the RohingyaMuslimminority population in the predominately Buddhist nation.

Trudeau spoke to SuuKyiin September amid questions about her leadership at a time when many were accusing the country's military of carrying out ethnic cleansingagainst this long-persecuted group.

During that call, Trudeau "stressed the particular importance of the state counsellor as a moral and political leader," according to a readout.

Last month, Trudeau announced the appointment of former Ontario premier Bob Rae as his special envoy to Myanmar.

Rae is also in Vietnam and will brief Trudeau in Da Nang ahead of the prime minister's meeting with SuuKyi.

Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya have fled from Rakhinestateinto neighbouring Bangladesh in the face of violence and torture the UNInternational Organization for Migration puts the number at above 600,000while thousands of others have been confined to squalid camps.

Some leaders in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, maintain the Rohingyamigrated illegally from Bangladesh, though many Rohingya families have lived in Myanmar for generations.

The APEC summit begins Friday in Da Nang.