SIEM REAP, Cambodia: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton held
landmark talks Friday with Myanmar President Thein Sein as he pleaded for the
global community to end decades of isolation for his nation.
The pair met in the Cambodian
tourist town Siem Reap on the sidelines of a major US business conference,
after the US on Wednesday gave the green light to firms to invest in Myanmar,
including in oil and gas.
Shaking hands in the lush gardens
of a luxury hotel, Clinton told Thein Sein that she was sending "a very
distinguished delegation" to his country to scout out opportunities for US
business and investment.
Thein Sein later told a dinner
attended by top US business leaders that his impoverished Southeast Asian
nation would welcome an influx of investment into a country which had
"lagged behind in development for the past 60 years".
"Myanmar is at a critical
juncture, where she has evolved from the military administration putting an end
to armed conflict to achieve sustainable peace and moving toward a new
democratic era," Thein Sein said.
Among the 200 companies
represented at the largest ever gathering of American businesses in Southeast
Asia were Coca-Cola, Caterpillar, Goldman Sachs, Ford and General Electric.
They are all keen to move into
Myanmar seen as virgin territory for the United States after so many decades of
isolation.
It was Clinton's second meeting
with Thein Sein after she became the first US secretary of state to visit
Myanmar in half a century during a trip to the country last year.
Washington has been surprised by
the speed of reforms which have taken hold in the long military-dominated
nation, leading to the freeing from house arrest of democracy icon Aung San Suu
Kyi and her subsequent election to parliament.
The decision to ease the
sanctions will please US firms eager not to miss out on what some economists
expect to be a gold rush in the resource-rich nation.
But Washington has faced
criticism from rights groups concerned it is moving too fast in its eagerness
to cash in on Myanmar's vast business potential.
Asian firms have been doing
business in Myanmar for years, while the European Union suspended most of its
sanctions against the country in April.
Clinton told Thein Sein that the
US wanted to encourage further reforms, which has impressed the West with its
release of hundreds of political prisoners and by welcoming Suu Kyi and her
party into mainstream politics.
"We want to help you keep
going. We are very committed," she said.
Thein Sein hailed the US decision
to ease its investment embargoes.
"I am very pleased to see
our bilateral relationship improving dramatically," said the Myanmar
leader, a former general who shed his army uniform when he took power as the
head of a quasi-civilian government last year.
The meeting, which lasted about
an hour, raised a host of issues including political prisoners, environmental
protections and the plight of the country's stateless Rohingya, officials said.
"They were talking seriously
about how to take the country forward on its reform goals, on its investment
goals," a senior State department official said.
In a speech earlier on Friday
Clinton acknowledged that as Myanmar opens up "there will be a lot of challenges"
but said she hoped to see "continuing progress there".
Washington was setting up
"protections to ensure that increased American investment advances the
reform process" she said, because US firms will have to report on
transparency and labour rights.
Myanmar -- along with regional
neighbours -- has called for all sanctions to be lifted as the country embarks
on its "second wave" of economic reforms.
Suu Kyi welcomed the sanctions
decision, but called for greater transparency at state-owned Myanma Oil and Gas
Enterprise, which US firms will be able to do business with under the new
rules.
Human Rights Watch however said
Washington had "caved to industry pressure" because it did not insist
on reforms in governance and human rights.
-AFP/ac
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