Clinton to visit Myanmar amid 'flickers of progress'

United States President Barack Obama said on Friday that Hillary Clinton would travel to Myanmar, the first trip to the country by a US secretary of state for 50 years, to hold talks with the government and the pro-democracy leaders including Aung San Suu Kyi, a day after the American president held a first-ever conversation with the freedom icon.

Obama said in Indonesia that he is sending Clinton to Myanmar to hold talks with the government and the pro-democracy leaders including Suu Kyi.

Clinton is scheduled to travel to Myanmar on December 1, a senior administration official said on condition of anonymity.

"After years of darkness, we've seen flickers of progress in these last several weeks. President Thein Sein and the Burmese Parliament have taken important steps on the path toward reform," Obama told the travelling press in Bali.

In his first-ever conversation with the Aung San, Obama was impressed with the substantive observation and warmth of the democracy icon.

In a call that lasted some 28 minutes, Obama called Suu Kyi from his Air Force One on his way to Indonesia. "Last night, I spoke to Aung San Suu Kyi directly and confirmed she supports American engagement to move this process forward," Obama was quoted as saying in his phone call with his fellow Nobel laureate from Air Force One on Thursday.

The two leaders not only discussed a wide range of bilateral issues and those related to the US policy of engagement with the Myanmar government, but Suu Kyi struck a personal chord with Obama when she asked about his dog Bo, officials familiar with the conversation said.

"This was his first conversation with Aung San Suu Kyi. He was very struck by both her substantive observations and her warmth," a senior administration official said.

"As he said to us, and as he said to her, he's long been a great admirer of hers for her struggle for democracy and human rights, and so it was a particularly meaningful conversation for the President -- but also a friendly one," the official said.

"She even asked the President how Bo, the dog, was doing. So they were able to have a light series of moments as well".

The announcement by Obama ahead of an East Asia summit in Bali, is one of the most significant move in US policy on Myanmar in decades amid efforts by Washington to use sanctions to isolate the country.

Obama said while there has been release of political prisoners, media restrictions have been relaxed and legislation has been approved that could open the political environment.

The US president said areas of concerns remain, including its closed political system, treatment of minorities and holding of political prisoners, and its relationship with North Korea.

"But we want to seize what could be an historic opportunity for progress, and make it clear that if Burma continues to travel down the road of democratic reform, it can forge a new relationship with the United States of America," Obama said.

He said Clinton would be the first American Secretary of State to travel to the country in over half a century, and she will explore whether the US can empower a positive transition in the country and begin a new chapter between the two countries.

Later, during the US-ASEAN Summit in Bali, Obama also saw the Myanmar President Thein Shein, which official asserted was not a bilateral meeting.