US State Department official visits Myanmar

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/261400,usstate-department-official-visits-myanmar.html


Posted : Wed, 25 Mar 2009 04:12:08 GMT
Author : DPA
Category : Asia (World)


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Yangon - A US State Department official has met with Myanmar's foreign minister to promote bilateral relations with the pariah regime, state media reports said Wednesday. Stephen Blake, director of the State Department's Mainland Southeast Asia Office, met Tuesday with Myanmar Foreign Minister Nyan Win in Naypyitaw, Myanmar TV reported. "He met with Nyan Win and discussed about promoting bilateral relation between Myanmar and America," the state-run channel said.

Blake also met with high officials from other ministries during his visit in Naypyitaw, situated about 350 kilometres north of Yangon, government sources said.

"I was surprised when I heard the news broadcasted on TV," said a retired Myanmar diplomat who asked to remain anonymous.

"Even though he is just a director from State Department, his trip seemed to be significant one because no high-ranking officials from [the] United States have visited here for a long time," the source said.

The US has imposed sanctions on Myanmar in 1988 after the regime launched a brutal crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators that left an estimated 3,000 people dead.

It has not posted a full ambassador to Myanmar for years.

There have been signs that US President Barack Obama may reexamine US policy towards Myanmar in light of the failure of sanctions and tough talk to significantly influence the ruling junta's policies over the past two decades.

US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton during her visit to Indonesia last month that the US was conducting a review on its foreign policy towards Myanmar.

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