Myanmar’s reformist President Thein Sein will visit the White House next week, the first such trip by a Myanmar head of state in almost 47 years and a sign of warming ties.
Myanmar state television announced the US visit on Monday, saying it comes at the invitation of President Barack Obama. It gave no exact date, but congressional staffers in Washington who were briefed on the upcoming trip said Thein Sein would meet Obama May 20.
The last Myanmar leader to visit the White House was the late dictator Ne Win in 1966.
The United States has been a prime mover in urging Thein Sein to introduce reforms after five decades of repressive military rule that ended when he became an elected head of state in 2011.
Last November, Obama became the first sitting US president to visit Myanmar, a step in his administration’s efforts to end decades of diplomatic isolation of the country also known as Burma and to reward its shift from authoritarian rule.
The US applied political and economic sanctions against the previous military regime for its human rights abuses and undemocratic rule, but the Obama administration shifted its policy to engagement, gradually lifting most sanctions following reforms.
