Suu Kyi hopeful on reforms

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, left, gestures after meeting Myanmar's democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, whom Hillary often refers to as her source of personal inspiration, at the latter's residence in Yangon yesterday.

Aung San Suu Kyi yesterday said she is hopeful that Myanmar can get on to "the road to democracy", after talks with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
She welcomed reforms that have enabled her party to stand in elections, but said more needed to be done and called for political prisoners to be freed.
The democracy leader held a morning of talks with the US top diplomat, the most senior US official to visit Myanmar in 50 years.
They promised to work together to promote democracy in Myanmar.
The democracy champion, speaking after talks with visiting US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during a landmark visit, also said it was good that China's foreign ministry had welcomed Myanmar's moves to engage with the West.
"I am very confident that if we work together... there will be no turning back from the road to democracy," said Suu Kyi after the talks.
But she added that the country was "not on that road yet".
The government continues to hold hundreds of political prisoners and the country is still plagued by ethnic conflicts.
The US maintains tight sanctions on senior leaders in Myanmar, which was ruled by a brutal military junta from 1962 until last year.
The army handed power to a civilian government last year, but the military's primacy is entrenched in the country's constitution.
However, the government has implemented a series of reforms, and freed Suu Kyi from detention and allowed to her take up a role in public life.
The reforms led to speculation that decades of isolation could be about to end.
Hillary Clinton and Suu Kyi had a private dinner in Rangoon on Thursday - the first time the pair had met in person. The two women met again yesterday at Suu Kyi's Rangoon home, where she was held under house arrest for many years.
On Thursday, Hillary met President Thein Sein, a former general and top leader of the previous regime.
The pair discussed upgrading diplomatic ties, and the US said it would support some modest changes in Myanmaur's relationship with the World Bank and the IMF.
But the US stopped short of easing sanctions on Myanmar, linking their removal to further progress on reform. Thein Sein hailed a "new chapter" in relations with the US.
After her talks with Suu Kyi, she met members of Myanmar's ethnic communities and leaders of the country's developing civil society groups. She will fly out of Myanmar later in the day.