Hailing the “remarkable” progress Myanmar has made, Obama said Suu Kyi is in a position to “begin shaping a remarkable social and political transformation and economic transformation” in the country.
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In May, President Obama issued an annual renewal of sanctions authority, retaining most targeted sanctions while removing ten state-owned entities.
“The United States is now prepared to lift sanctions that we’ve imposed on Burma for quite some time”, Obama said in the White House’s Oval Office, using another name for Myanmar.
“It is the right thing to do to ensure that the people of Burma see rewards for a new way of doing business”.
President Obama announced his intention to terminate the “national emergency” order in respect to Burma -which has authorized sanctions since 1997-and said it would happen “soon”.
Obama said he would also reinstate the nation to the Generalized System of Preferences, a tariff program that would provide Americans with duty-free access to Myanmar exports.
But the move was quickly criticized by leaders of some human rights groups, who said they anxious that eliminating sanctions was premature given the slow pace of change in Myanmar, also known as Burma, where the military still controls a large portion of parliamentary seats and important government ministries.
The official and aides spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
“Removing sanctions on the jade industry is important, and more transparency is needed on production and trading”, he told AFP.
Numerous companies and individuals still subject to US sanctions are linked to the military, which retains major political and economic interests, despite the shift to civilian government.
“In Myanmar, there are no businesses which are not related to cronies or military”. The President expressed his commitment to helping Myanmar achieve inclusive economic growth, both through continued assistance and by changes to US policy created to encourage responsible investment in Myanmar.
But human rights groups say there are powerful reasons for retaining sanctions. Military abuses continue in ethnic minority regions. The military and associates who profited under junta rule still have huge stakes in the economy.
Welcoming her for the first time since her historic election victory past year, Obama announced a series of steps to coax the rapidly transforming southeast Asian country – also known as Burma – from decades of economic isolation.
Suu Kyi said that economic development could help foster national reconciliation.
“Unity also means prosperity, because people fight over limited resources”, Suu Kyi said Wednesday.
Ye Hein Aung, a member of Myanmar Center for Responsible Business, said the lifting of sanctions will improve not only imports and exports but banking, and would make Myanmar less dependent on regional trade.
“We are honest in trying to bring together the different communities”, Suu Kyi said. Broad sanctions on trade and investment ended in 2012, but U.S. -Myanmar goods trade totaled just $227 million in 2015, and U.S. companies account for less than 1 percent of total foreign investment.
The measure will become effective on November 13th and should facilitate job creation, and other benefits in the country.
Suu Kyi is a former political dissident in the country and earlier this year in March her government took power.
Since then, her National League for Democracy (NLD) has won a sweeping election victory, and the military seems to be retreating from political life. On that occasion, she was presented with the Congressional Gold Medal, the legislature’s highest civilian honour, which she had been awarded in 2008 while under house arrest.
(AP Photo/Thein Zaw). A man arranges local newspapers fronting photos of U.S. President Barack Obama and Myanmar’s State Counsellor and Foreign Minister Aung San Suu Kyi at his roadside shop, Thursday, Sept. 15, 2016, in Yangon, Myanmar. “If the issue is leverage, the decision today makes nearly no sense: Obama and Suu Kyi just took important tools out of their collective tool kit for dealing with the Burmese military, and threw them into the garbage”.
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“They’ve been there for generations, and for some all they’ve ever known are the refugee camps”, said Derek Mitchell, who served as US ambassador to Myanmar from 2012 until earlier this year. Doing so may result in civil and/or criminal penalties.
