Obama to visit Myanmar: White House confirms Asia trip details (+video)
President Obama, newly re-elected, will visit Southeast Asia this month. His itinerary will include stops in Thailand, Cambodia and Myanmar. His visit to Myanmar will be viewed as an endorsement of that country's recent transformation.
WASHINGTON/YANGON
President Barack Obama will visit Myanmar this month and meet both its president and its iconic opposition leader, marking a new milestone in U.S. efforts to promote democratic reforms in the once-isolated Southeast Asian country.
Obama will travel to Myanmar as part of a Nov. 17-20 tour of Southeast Asia that will include stops in Thailand and Cambodia, the White House said on Thursday as it confirmed details of his first international trip since voters gave him a second term in an election on Tuesday.
The visit to Myanmar, the first by a sitting U.S. president, will give Obama a chance to hold talks with President Thein Sein and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi to encourage the country's "ongoing democratic transition," White House spokesman Jay Carney said.
Obama's presence in Myanmar, also known as Burma, will be the strongest endorsement so far from the international community of the country's transformation under the quasi-civilian government of Thein Sein, who took office in March 2011 after decades of military rule.
