President Barack Obama says the United States is prepared to lift sanctions on Myanmar “soon” with democratic progress in the country is incomplete but on the right track.
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After meeting Wednesday with Myanmar’s de facto leader and fellow Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, U.S. President Barack Obama made an announcement that few would have expected when he took office in 2008: The United States, he said, would roll back economic sanctions and restore trade benefits to the Southeast Asian nation amid its democratic transition.
The US eased some sanctions earlier this year to support political reform, but maintained most of its economic restrictions with an eye towards penalizing those it views as hampering Aung San Suu Kyi’s democratically elected government.
“We hear frequently that the ongoing sanctions regime serves as a chill on investment from the United States and in some cases from other worldwide 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 said Tuesday, adding that the administration’s decisions would be guided by consultation with Suu Kyi and her government.
Ms Suu Kyi has been criticised for doing too little to address the plight of the Rohingya, some 125,000 of whom have been housed in temporary camps since violence in 2012.
One of the chief issues at Suu Kyi’s meetings will be whether the remaining American sanctions should be lifted.
“The Government of Burma had committed large-scale repression of the democratic opposition”, the U.S. Treasury officials says in its sanctions document.
The US policy’s primary focus is to help Myanmar, formerly Burma, succeed, he said, reiterating that the US will continue its diplomatic support and assistance for priorities expressed by Suu Kyi.
Ms Suu Kyi called on the US Congress to eliminate all remaining sanctions against Myanmar.
A full scrapping of sanctions is only likely to come when the constitution is changed to allow civilian control of the military and rules that guaranteed a quarter of legislative seats of officers.
The Obama administration started to restructure sanctions in May 2012, when it removed a blanket prohibition on new United States investment in the country, relaxed visa bans and allowed the resumption of most financial services. Myanmar was formerly called Burma, a name the United States still uses while referring to the country.
He also announced the USA would add Myanmar to a roster of developing countries granted special trade status, allowing duty-free import of some 5,000 products.
Q What’s the timetable for lifting sanctions?
The administration relaxed bank sanctions on Myanmar in May.
Since taking power six months ago, Suu Kyi has moved to heal ethnic conflicts that have long plagued Myanmar.
“It’s a good news story in an era when so often we see countries going the opposite direction”, he said, acknowledging that much work remains to be done.
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By the end of the gathering, she also seemed to accept the importance of a national ceasefire agreement that both the previous government and the armed forces treated as a steppingstone for broader talks about peace, federalism and constitutional reform. On the other hand, Suu Kyi is wary of losing what she still considers a powerful political bargaining chip against the military.
