Clinton welcomes Suu Kyi for Washington talks

WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Tuesday welcomed Aung San Suu Kyi on her first visit to the United States since the Myanmar democracy icon was released from years of house arrest.

There is "so much excitement and enthusiasm about the fact that you can actually come," Clinton told Suu Kyi as they met in the State Department.

Suu Kyi, dressed in a red jacket with three small pink flowers pinned to her hair, was smiling and relaxed as the women chatted in Clinton's outer office.

They discussed Suu Kyi's upcoming visit to Fort Wayne, Indiana, home to a large number of people from Myanmar, also know as Burma. Clinton said the people of Fort Wayne were "eagerly awaiting" her arrival next week.

Clinton said she would like to hear more from Suu Kyi about Fort Wayne and "how people ended up there, and are living there."

During her long years of house confinement in Mynamar, Suu Kyi said she had always heard "about Fort Wayne on the Burmese news... all sorts of things seem to be happening in Fort Wayne."

The Nobel peace laureate arrived Monday at the start of an 18-day US tour which would have long been unthinkable only a year or so ago.

Suu Kyi spent 15 years confined to her lakeside Yangon home after her party swept 1990 elections and military rulers ignored the result. She was freed in 2010 and, in a powerful sign of change, won a seat in parliament.

It was the second time that the two women had met, after Clinton made a landmark visit to Myanmar in December.

The meeting came as several dozen political prisoners were freed in Myanmar, opposition groups said deepening Suu Kyi's reform drive.

Suu Kyi will attend nearly 100 events across the United States and after Washington, she heads to the states of New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Indiana, Kentucky and California to accept awards, speak to students and scholars, and greet refugees from her country.

Suu Kyi has not visited the United States since before the 1990 elections. She worked in New York at the United Nations headquarters from 1969 to 1971.