With Suu Kyi no longer an opposition figure, Washington has been weighing a further easing of sanctions against Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, as Obama looks to normalize relations with a country shunned when it was ruled by a military junta.
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“We are honest in trying to bring together the different communities”, Suu Kyi said.
Ms Suu Kyi’s party swept historic elections last November, and the visit by the 71-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate, deeply respected in Washington, is a crowning occasion in the Obama administration’s support for Burma’s shift to democracy. Business groups in the USA have complained that sanctions hinder them from competing with major rivals in an economy that the Asian Development Bank projects will expand 8.4 percent this year and 8.3 percent in 2017, making Myanmar Asia’s best performer.
After the new government took office, the United States partially lifted the sanctions imposed on Myanmar’s military regimes.
Mr Robertson acknowledged the release of political prisoners, but cited the continued arrests of civil society activists, as well as the government’s failure to repeal laws limiting free speech and the rights of religious minorities.
“If anything, we’re enhancing it”, said Earnest, arguing that greater engagement with Myanmar would enable the U.S. to encourage further change. “It is the right thing to do in order to ensure the people of Burma see rewards from a new way of doing business and a new government”.
Aung San Suu Kyi on Tuesday, September 13, met with British Prime Minister Theresa May during her first visit to London since becoming Myanmar’s de facto leader, with the thorny issue of human rights on the agenda.
Suu Kyi noted there are 135 ethnic groups in Myanmar and it is imperative they unite to achieve prosperity.
President Obama announced Wednesday he’s prepared to lift economic sanctions on Myanmar, rewarding the former military dictatorship for its move toward democracy. She said everyone entitled to citizenship in Myanmar should get it.
In May, Suu Kyi held talks with US Secretary of State John Kerry in Nay Pyi Taw a few days after the US extended some sanctions while removing others. The council offered companies the chance to book a table for eight and a seat at an off-the-record round-table with Suu Kyi for $25,000. The military junta in Myanmar changed the country’s name from Burma in 1989.
“[The] United States intends to sign a loan guarantee with five local microfinance institutions to support over $10 million in loans to small businesses in Myanmar, which will increase access to food and support employment opportunities for communities in Myanmar”, the statement said.
The move eased restrictions on Myanmar’s financial institutions, allowed certain transactions related to U.S. individuals living in the country, and removed seven state-owned enterprises and three state-owned banks from the USA blacklist.
Obama’s decision does not normalize relations between the USA military and Myanmar troops.
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Myanmar’s jade sector is worth up to $31 billion, but it is controlled by drug lords and entrenched military elites who prevent much of that wealth from going to the Burmese people, one in four of whom live in poverty.
