Burma president calls Clinton visit ‘milestone’
09:46 01/12/2011 MOSCOW, December 1 (RIA Novosti) - Burmese President Thein Sein called on Thursday a visit by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton a “new chapter” in ties with Washington.
Clinton is the most senior U.S. politician to visit the country in five decades and her visit comes amid signs that the Asian country may be implementing reforms.
Burma was ruled by military junta from 1962 until last year, when the army transferred power to a ostensibly civilian government.
The U.S. has had sanctions in place against senior Burmese figures for a number of years.
Clinton met Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin in the capital, Nay Pyi Taw, before talks with President Thein Sein.
"I am here today because President Obama and myself are encouraged by the steps that you and your government have taken to provide for your people," Clinton told Thein Sein before the start of a closed-door meeting.
Thein Sein said Clinton’s visit would mark a “milestone” and would be “historic and a new chapter in relations."
Clinton is also due to meet pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi in Burma’s main city of Rangoon.
Suu Kyi has spent years under house arrest and was only freed when the new government came to power.
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