Asean welcomes US' decision to send Clinton to Burma
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Asean on Friday welcomed US President Barack Obama's decision to send the US secretary of state to visit Burma following several signs of change in the regime.
Asean chief Surin Pitsuwan said that the US ' decision to enhance its engagement to a higher level is a welcome development indeed.
Obama who is now in Bali to attend Asean Summit said he has assigned Clinton to visit Burma around next month following positive signs in the country.
Surin said, "a kind of "reform dividend" that will contribute to more opening and more reconciliation in Myanmar (Burma)."
Surin said other global players such as Japan Australia, UN, EU, WB and ADB can also help consolidate those pockets of small gains and turn them into a strong thrust forward.
"Secretary Clinton's visit will help accelerate that momentum of change, and widen its spectrum and deepen its substance. Some thing that Asean hopes for. In a way it is a re-affirmation of the strategy that Asean has adopted on this complicated issue all along," he said.
Asean has led the world into Burma to assist it cope with the destruction in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis in May 2008.
The goodwill and compassion of the world must have convinced Burmese authority that the international community was not all and entirely antagonistic to their country.
