Official: Obama to visit Burma

By Julian Pecquet - 11/07/12 12:12 PM ET

President Obama will visit Burma this month while he's in the region to attend a regional summit of Southeast Asian nations in Cambodia, a Burmese official told Agence France-Presse on Wednesday.

“Obama will come to Yangon [Rangoon] on Nov. 19,” the official told the wire service on condition of anonymity. “He will meet with the president and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi here.”

The White House has not confirmed that Obama would visit Burma, but speculation has been rife since a State Department official announced in January that the president would likely attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) annual meeting this month in nearby Cambodia. Cambodian officials confirmed Wednesday that they expect Obama to arrive in Phnom Penh on Nov. 18

“We expect to have our secretary of State here in July as well as our president for the ASEAN summits and other related meetings in November,” Joseph Yun, the State Department's principal deputy assistant secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, told reporters in Cambodia in January. “So we are having an exciting year ahead.”

Obama's rumored visit would cap a rapid thawing of relations between the United States and Burma, also known as Myanmar, over the past year as the long-reclusive country has adopted democratic reforms, including legislative elections earlier this year. Hillary Clinton became the first U.S. secretary of State to visit the country in more than 50 years when she flew to Burma last November and met with the new civilian government and opposition leaders.

The United States has since lifted a number of sanctions imposed after the military regime's crackdown against democracy activists in 1988. And Burmese President Thein Sein met with Clinton in New York in September while attending the United Nations General Assembly.