Clinton: US to ease Myanmar sanctions

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told Myanmar President Thein Sein on Wednesday that the United States would take steps to ease the US ban on imports from the country, a major boon to the Southeast Asian nation.

"In recognition of the continued progress toward reform and in response to requests from both the government and the opposition, the United States is taking the next step in normalizing our commercial relationship," Clinton told Thein Sein in a meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.

"We will begin the process of easing restrictions on imports of (Myanmar) goods into the US. We hope this will provide more opportunities for your people to sell their goods into our market."

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said at a news briefing on Thursday that China has long called on relevant countries to completely lift sanctions on Myanmar as soon as possible, as this will contribute to Myanmar's development.

Clinton's announcement marks a further step in the US rapprochement with Myanmar, which offers economic and strategic benefits to both sides and is a political boost to the former general now leading Myanmar's reforms.

"We now have diplomatic relations at the ambassador level and the people of Myanmar are very pleased with the easing of economic sanctions by the US," Thein Sein said at the meeting, which took place at a New York hotel.

"We are very grateful for the actions of the US," he said, handing Clinton a letter that US officials said was addressed to US President Barack Obama.

The US Treasury Department last week removed individual sanctions against Thein Sein.

The next step will remove more of the restrictions that isolated his country for two decades.

A senior US official told reporters the administration would work with Congress to determine how to proceed, but that the process would mirror the sector-by-sector approach of earlier US moves to relax financial sector sanctions.

"It's a process that will take some time," the official said, adding that the easing of the import ban would remove the last major category of US sanctions on Myanmar.

Meanwhile, the political party of Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi on Thursday welcomed the US moves, hailing it as a positive long-term step.

The move to lift the last major trade sanctions on Myanmar came after "tripartite" talks involving Clinton, Thein Sein and Suu Kyi, according to a spokesman for the Nobel laureate's party.

"We welcome the lifting of import bans, although of course the people cannot get an immediate benefit from it," said Ohn Kyaing, of the National League for Democracy. "But we do think it will be good in the long term."

Reuters-AFP

Dong Fangyu contributed to this story.