A White House official says President Barack Obama will discuss possible further relief of US sanctions on Myanmar when the de facto leader of the nation’s new civilian government Aung San Suu Kyi (ahng sahn soo chee) visits Wednesday.
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White House officials said Obama was eager to hear Suu Kyi’s views on how far the US should go in lifting sanctions against the military junta.
“We hear frequently that the ongoing sanctions regime serves as a chill on investment from the United States and in some cases from other global firms, and so we want to make sure that our sanctions are not preventing the type of economic development and investment that we believe can improve the livelihoods of the people of Burma”, Rhodes told the Center for Strategic and worldwide Studies think tank.
At a conference on Myanmar in Washington on Tuesday, deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said the White House wanted to make sure that USA sanctions were not preventing economic investment that would help Myanmar’s people.
The two women discussed the challenges faced by Myanmar as it transitions from military rule to democracy during Suu Kyi’s first visit outside of Asia since her party’s election victory a year ago.
At Tuesday’s daily State Department briefing, department deputy spokesman Mark Toner told reporters the lifting of sanctions always was a response to democratic progress.
But most people are “reluctant to implement coal-fired power plants, that’s why we won’t be able to implement the planned coal power plant projects”, said Aung Ko Ko, director of hydro and renewable energy planning branch at the ministry. “Some of them will remain in place”.
Toner said the USA was happy to welcome Suu Kyi, adding that much has changed over the past few years in Myanmar.
The human rights abuses perpetrated by the Burmese military, such as the oppression of the country’s Rohingya Muslims, were also “touched on” during the bilateral talks, the spokesman said.
Theresa May greets Aung San Suu Kyi outside 10 Downing Street. Suu Kyi will visit with President Barack Obama in Washington on Wednesday.
“She (Suu Kyi) allowed us to talk with potential worldwide lending facilities like the ADB”, a senior official at the department of hydropower implementation of the Ministry of Electricity and Energy said, referring to the Japan and USA -led Asia Development Bank.
‘Right thing to do’ for U.S. This is a country that has so many problems. She last visited in 2012 when she was still opposition leader. Obama eased some of the sanctions in 2013, and some major US companies, including Coca-Cola and General Motors, have ventured into Myanmar’s economy.
United States support for the shift from five decades of direct military rule in Myanmar is viewed by the Obama administration as a significant foreign policy achievement.
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Ms Suu Kyi had on Monday met Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, who welcomed the establishment of the Rakhine Commission, led by Kofi Annan, to tackle the situation facing the Rohingya community.
