Referring to the transition of Burma to elections, Obama said the new government is giving voice to the hopes and dreams to new generation of Burmese people.
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The US has eased broad economic sanctions since political reforms began five years ago, and Mr Obama has visited the country twice.
Encouraged by Myanmar’s progress towards democracy and installation of a civilian government, US President Barack Obama today made a decision to terminate national emergency imposed on the country and said he will “soon” lift the sanctions against it. “It is the right thing to do in order to ensure the people of Burma see the rewards from a new way of doing business and a new government”.
“I think the biggest thing we can do is help their economy grow by opening up greater trade between Myanmar and the United States and other countries around the world”, U.S. deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said last week during Obama’s stop in Laos.
Suu Kyi said, “We are very interested in successful businesses…”
Officially Suu Kyi is foreign minister and self-appointed state counsellor – a role akin to prime minister.
For Obama to lift sanctions, he would need to issue an executive order ending the national emergency declaration on Myanmar, first issued in 1997, which underpins sanctions, and revoke previous country-related sanction orders.
President Barack Obama’s administration will seek to accept 110,000 refugees from around the world in fiscal 2017, officials announced Wednesday.
The official and aides spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. The sanctions did little to stem the rise of crony capitalism, but non-engagement did provide useful political and economic opportunities for neighbouring countries to bolster their influence, particularly China.
But penalties meant to block the drug trade and to bar military trade with North Korea would still apply, as would a visa ban barring some former and current members of the military from travelling to the US. He said greater US engagement would promote its ability to promote change.
However, human rights groups say there are compelling reasons for retaining sanctions. Her qualification of lifting measures that “hurt us economically” leaves scope for retaining elements of USA legislation targeted at the military, on the grounds they have a minimal effect on the general economy.
Some policymakers worry lifting sanctions completely could weaken American leverage and may let the military off the hook.
Unsafe practices in the jade industry have resulted in the deaths of hundreds of small-scale miners, while mining revenues have been used to finance the long-running conflict between the military and the Kachin Independence Army in Myanmar’s north.
The “Cardin-McCain Burma Strategy Act of 2016” was also due to be introduced ahead of Suu Kyi’s meetings with Obama and members of Congress. About 125,000 remain confined to squalid camps on the country’s western coast following violence between Buddhists and Muslims in 2012.
Khin Maung Nyo, however, said it is impossible to single out Myanmar military interests without making the entire country suffer. “This is what we are trying to do in Rakhine”, Suu Kyi said. The U.S. had cited Myanmar’s refusal to recognize workers’ rights.
It includes reinstating trade benefits for poorer nations, suspended in 1989 by George W.Bush over human rights abuses.
Despite her victory, Suu Kyi is barred from being president under the country’s military-drafted constitution because her sons are not Myanmar citizens.
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Centred on Hpakant in Kachin State, Global Witness estimated Myanmar’s jade trade to be worth $31 billion in off-the-books revenue for 2014, a figure equivalent to half of Myanmar’s official GDP.
