Clinton arrives in Myanmar for historic visit

Nov 30, 2011, 10:18 GMT

Naypyitaw, Myanmar - US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton arrived in the Myanmar capital of Naypyitaw Wednesday for an historic visit to the once-pariah state.

Clinton received a red-carpet welcome at the airport, led by Deputy Foreign Minister Myo Myint. She is the first state secretary to visit Myanmar - previously known as Burma - in 50 years.

Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi said she hoped a visit to her country by US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton would spur reforms.

She also hoped the visit would open the door to further political reforms and more engagement between the two countries.

'I hope that Secretary Clinton's visit will open the way towards a better relationship,' she told the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, via Skype.

'I think she will be able to discuss some of the very important issues with the government and that they will be able to come to some kind of understanding that will encourage the reforms to go further,' Suu Kyi said.

Clinton is scheduled to hold talks with President Thein Sein and other officials on Thursday, before flying to Yangon for a dinner with Suu Kyi. The 1991 Nobel laureate has spent 15 of the past 21 years under house arrest.

Suu Kyi was released from detention on November 13, 2010, days after an election was won by the pro-military Union Solidarity and Development Party.

The opposition leader said she was hopeful that democracy would come to her country, which was ruled by a military junta for decades, and that real reform would be enacted.

Most importantly, she stressed demands for the rule of law and the release of political prisoners.

This month, her National League for Democracy registered to participate in parliamentary by-elections next year, and Suu Kyi confirmed that she would be among the candidates.

'I will certainly run for the elctions when they take place,' she said.

Clinton flew in from South Korea, where she once again urged North Korea to work towards peace by stopping its controversial nuclear programme.

'The United States stands with our ally and we look to North Korea to take concrete steps that promote peace and stability and denuclearization,' Clinton said in the South Korean city of Pusan, where she took part in a conference on international aid.

Her comments came shortly after Pyongyang said its efforts to build an experimental light-water nuclear reactor and low-enriched uranium were 'progressing apace.'

Clinton's visit to Myanmar came in response to positive gestures from the government of President Thein Sein, a former army general who took office after last year's election in the country that has been under military dictatorships since 1962.

In August, the president invited Suu Kyi to Naypyitaw for private talks. In recent months, parliament has passed a liberal labour law, made changes to facilitate the NLD's re-registration and passed legislation allowing citizens to protest peacefully.

The new regime has also freed more than 300 political prisoners and loosened controls on the press.

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