Asia-Pacific News
Norway tops travel wish list for Myanmar's Nobel laureate
Feb 27, 2012, 3:30 GMT
Bangkok - Norway stands at the top of the list of countries Myanmar's Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Aung San Suu Kyi, hopes to visit after she contests an April 1 by-election, a newspaper reported Monday.
'I've always said that the first country I would like to visit would be Norway because of all they did for us when we were going through difficult times,' Suu Kyi said in an interview with Thailand's The Nation.
Suu Kyi, who spent 15 of 21 years under house detention because of her pro-democracy activism before she was released in 2010, was the 1991 recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, awarded by the Norwegian Nobel Committee.
'We never forget friends who stood by you during difficult times,' Suu Kyi was quoted as saying. She added, however, that although she wished to visit Norway first, her post-election travel itinerary would depend 'very much on the circumstances.'
Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy opposition party have entered races for the by-election, which would decide 48 parliamentary seats.
Should she win, Suu Kyi was expected to become the opposition leader in Myanmar's parliament, which is currently dominated by the pro-military Union Solidarity and Development Party.
President Thein Sein, who took office in March after the first elections in Myanmar in 20 years, initiated a political dialogue with Suu Kyi, paving the way for her return to national politics.
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