Yangon - United Nations special envoy Ibrahim Gambari is scheduled to visit Myanmar on June 25, a government official said.

The official, who requested anonymity, said Gambari will discuss national reconciliation, but his visit is also seen as preparing for a probable visit by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon in July.

Ban will be in Tokyo from June 30-July 2 to meet government and business leaders. His itinerary after that is undecided but a visit to Myanmar is a "possibility," UN spokeswoman Michelle Montas said in New York on Friday.

Asked whether Ban will go to Myanmar, where the controversial trial of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was still underway, Montas said, "Myanmar is a possibility, but the secretary general has not decided yet."

Ban told reporters at the UN headquarters in New York early this month that he was ready to visit Myanmar.

"Promoting democratization, including the release of Daw (Mrs) Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners, has been one of my top priorities and it will continue to be my top priority," Ban said then.

"When the time is appropriate and conditions are ripe, as I said many times, I'm ready to visit Myanmar. I'm working on that now."

Ban visited Yangon and the delta areas devastated by Cyclone Nargis in May 2008.

The ruling junta has scheduled a general election in 2010, the first since 1990, but has meanwhile put opposition leader Suu Kyi on trial for breaking the terms of her house detention last month by allowing an American to swim into her lakeside home-cum-prison.

If found guilty, Suu Kyi may face a five-year prison term, preventing her from participating in the election process.

Ban and many Western and Asian governments have called for the release of Suu Kyi.

Her National League for Democracy party, which won the 1990 polls, has vowed not to enter the 2010 election unless Suu Kyi is freed and steps are taken to amend the military-drafted 2008 constitution that essentially gives the army control over future elected governments.

Gambari's June 25 visit will be his eighth to Myanmar and he will likely stay two days. His last visit was January 31.

On that visit he met with Suu Kyi and executive members of the NLD, but he was denied a meeting with Senior General Than Shwe. (dpa)