Thursday, 18 October 2012 13:41 Mizzima News
US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns arrived in Naypyitaw on Wednesday on an official visit at the same time as a major US human rights delegation is meeting with top Burma officials.
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| Deputy US Secretary of State William Burns. Photo: US gov |
Burns will meet with President Thein Sein and government ministers as well as opposition leader and parliamentarian Aung San Suu Kyi.
Burns' visit marks the highest-level U.S. official visit to the country since Hillary Clinton visited last December as the first US secretary of state to visit the Southeast Asian nation in more than five decades.
The United States has eased sanctions on Burma in response to political reforms in the country and in its latest move, President Barack Obama took another step in normalizing the commercial relationship between the two countries by relaxing US restrictions on import of Burmese goods as well as financial restriction after he granted US citizens to do business in Burma.
Earlier, Burns traveled to Tokyo on Oct. 14-15 and met with Foreign Minister Gemba, Defense Minister Morimoto, and other senior officials to discuss US–Japan coordination on regional issues in East Asia, as well as global issues.
On Oct. 16, in South Korea he met with senior South Korean official to participate in the US ROK Strategic Dialogue and continued on to Beijing on Oct. 17 for meetings with senior government officials to discuss a wide range of global, regional, and bilateral issues.
Burns will continue on to New Delhi on Friday to meet with senior Indian government officials to discuss regional priorities.
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