(
Mizzima) – The European Union has eliminated some targeted travel sanctions against top-level Burmese leaders in response to the release of hundreds of political prisoners on January 13.
The removal was called a “first step” officials said in Brussels after the announcement on Monday.
Burmese President Thein Sein, two vice presidents, various cabinet members and speakers of the two houses of Parliament can now be issued visas to European countries, according to a statement by the EU. Other sanctions that ban weapons sales, freeze assets and block certain imports of minerals will remain in place.
Thein Sein, a former general, has released dissidents, eased media restrictions and sought peace with ethnic rebels during 2011 and early this year.
Recently, a parade of U.S. officials including U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and senators Mitch McConnell, John McCain, and Joseph Lieberman have said the removal of some U.S. sanctions will take place if reforms continue, perhaps as early as late April.
“If you had asked me during my last visit here whether I could envision the Congress lifting all sanctions against this country, I would have said that such a scenario seemed faint and distant,” McCain told reporters in Rangoon on Sunday. “Today, however, it appears increasingly possible.”
The EU foreign-policy chief, Cathy Ashton of Britain, said EU ministers have been “working closely” with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and that she will probably visit Burma in April.
Burma has embarked on a number of reforms, which observers say are being made at the expense of conservative factions in the military. The quicker the Burmese economy improves the stronger hand Thein Sein has in terms of securing a permanent foothold in guiding the country toward democracy. The Burmese budget is woefully inadequate to meet the people’s needs in education, health, and infrastructure. Most of the country’s budget goes to support the military and fund the army’s war against ethnic armed groups, a number of which have recently signed cease-fires. Thein Sein has said the country must have peace in order to progress economically.
EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels hailed the recent reforms as a “remarkable program” of change demonstrating the newly elected government’s commitment to replace the military’s decades long grip on absolute rule.
In a statement, the ministers said the EU would increase assistance to reduce poverty and for professional training, and called for “progressive engagement” by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.
“These changes are opening up important new prospects for developing the relationship between the European Union and Burma/Myanmar,” the EU statement said.
EU sanctions were imposed after bloody military crackdowns on a pro-democracy movement led by Nobel Prize-winning dissident Aung San Suu Kyi, who is seeking a seat in Parliament in the April 1 by-election.
Earlier this month, the European Union said it would open a representative office in Burma to manage aid programs and promote political dialogue.
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