Nay Pyi Taw, Oct 13 (IANS): The Myanmar government on Tuesday removed five armed groups from the list of "unlawful associations", said a government press release.

The five armed groups are included in the eight groups preparing to take part in the formal signing of the Nationwide Ceasefire Accord (NCA) in Nay Pyi Taw on Thursday, Xinhua news agency reported.

The other three armed groups had been revoked from the list of "unlawful associations list" as well as "terrorist organisations list" on Monday.

The move came days before the government and eight ethnic armed groups out of 15 invited by the government are to hold a formal signing of the NCA.

The eight armed groups agreed with the government to sign the NCA as advance signatories who were promised by President U Thein Sein to have them removed from the government's list of outlawed organisations.

Before the set formal signing, the draft NCA was preliminarily signed between the government's Union Peace-Making Work Committee (UPWC) and the ethnic groups' Nationwide Ceasefire Coordination Team (NCCT) in late March after conclusion of more than one year's negotiation.

The two sides are also set to draw up a political framework within 60 days after the formal NCA signing, and start a political dialogue within 90 days.