Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes called President Obama’s visit to Burma “very exciting and consequential” in a gaggle with the reporters on a flight leaving Burma Monday, according to a White House pool report.
Rhodes said that President Thein Sein of Burma signaled “how much he wants the United States to be engaged in Burma going forward.” Obama told Sein that the “more they do to demonstrate they are implimenting a reform agenda, the more we can do.”
Rhodes said the trip was encouraging to the president for these reasons:
— he welcomed the Burmese government providing access by the ICRC to prisoners and welcomed the decision to adjudicate the fates of remaining prisoners of conscience.
— Rhodes praised the government’s commitment to pursue a ceasefire in Kachin state.
— Regarding the Rohingyas in Rakhine state the government of Myanmar reiterated willingness to address the situation and the underlying issue of citizenship
