The Irrawaddy News Magazine [Covering Burma and Southeast Asia]

Suu Kyi 'Satisfied' with Thein Sein Talks
By WAI MOE Saturday, August 20, 2011

Burma’s pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi is satisfied with her first meeting and talks with President Thein Sein.

Before leaving Naypyidaw on Saturday, Suu Kyi told reporters at the government workshop that she was "happy and satisfied" with her first meetings with Thein Sein on Friday. She added she hoped to meet again with Thein Sein, according to reporters in Naypyidaw.

 
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Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Saturday, Khun Thar Myint, who was responsible for Suu Kyi’s security during her first visit to Burmese capital Naypyidaw, said that Suu Kyi had left Naypyidaw at around 11am after attending the second day of a government workshop on economic development.

Khun Thar Myint said that, at the workshop, Suu Kyi met and spoke to: Minister for Border Affairs and for National Industrial Development Maj-Gen Thein Htay; Minister for Industry 1 and 2 former Vice Admiral Soe Thein; Minister for Railway Transportation ex-Maj-Gen Aung Min; and Minister for Labor and for Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement ex-Maj-Gen Aung Kyi.

Suu Kyi’s aide said Suu Kyi exchanged friendly conversations with the ministers during a break at the workshop.

A government source who spoke on conditional of anonymity said that government officials who met with Suu Kyi in Naypyidaw were also pleased with their meeting with the Nobel Peace Prize winner.

During Suu Kyi’s one-hour dialogue with Thein Sein on Friday afternoon, she requested a meeting with Snr-Gen Than Shwe and Vice Snr-Gen Maung Aye, the government source said, adding he thought “it was a good approach.”

However, he did not provide further details of the discussions.

Burmese state broadcasts on Friday evening and state newspapers on Saturday reported about Suu Kyi’s meeting with Thein Sein, and showed pictures and footage of the two posing for a photo shoot beneath a picture of Suu Kyi’s father, Gen Aung San, Burma’s independence hero and founder of the Burmese armed forces.

“The president and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi tried to find out the potential common grounds to cooperate in interests of the nation and the people putting aside different views,” The New Light of Myanmar reported on Saturday. 

Saturday’s newspapers also reported that Thein Sein had conducted a religious ceremony which included planting a banyan tree in Naypyidaw on Friday morning before Suu Kyi’s arrival.

At the ceremony, Thein Sein attended alongside Second Vice President Sai Mauk Khan, Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Defense Services Lt-Gen Soe Win, and ministers including ex-Brig-Gen Kyaw Hsan, ex-Brig-Gen Thein Nyunt, and Maj-Gen Aung Min, according to the state-run media.

However, First Vice President ex-Gen Tin Aung Myint Oo and Commander-in-Chief of Defense Services Gen Min Aung Hlaing were not present at the president’s banyan tree ceremony.

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