Obama meets with Myanmar president
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Yangon - US President Barack Obama said Monday that Myanmar still has far to go before achieving full democracy but expressed confidence that the former pariah state had started down the path.
Obama met with reform-minded President Thein Sein for about an hour in Yangon.
"I've shared with him the fact that I recognize this is just the first steps on what will be a long journey," Obama said.
"But we think a process of democratic and economic reform here in Myanmar that has been begun by the president is one that can lead to incredible development opportunities." Obama has been criticised by human rights groups for providing an endorsement of the pro-military government with the first visit to the country by a sitting US president.
It was believed to be the first time that Obama publicly referred to Myanmar by its current name, adopted in 1989 by the junta that ruled between 1962 to 2010.
Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, whom Obama was scheduled to meet after Thein Sein, insists on using the old name Burma.//DPA
