美国总统奥巴马宣布，美国准备取消对缅甸的经济制裁。此前，奥巴马与缅甸实际掌权的领导人昂山素季在白宫举行了会谈。
两位领导人星期三会谈后，在椭圆形办公室向媒体发表了讲话。奥巴马以缅甸出现的“卓越的社会和政治变革”为例说明，“美国现已准备好要取消长期以来对缅甸实施的制裁。”
早些时候，奥巴马致函美国国会，称政府将采取行动恢复对缅甸的贸易优惠，对缅甸的贸易优惠因为人权问题在20多年前被中止。
昂山素季站在奥巴马身边，亲自对奥巴马作为第一位美国总统访问缅甸表示感谢。她还感谢美国国会为恢复人权曾向缅甸政府施加压力。但是她说，现在是美国取消所有制裁的时候了。她说：“团结也需要繁荣，因为当人们不得不为有限资源而争斗时，他们就会忘记团结的重要性。”
她呼吁人们到缅甸观光和投资。她说：“我期待商人们到我们国家来赚取利润。”她说，她预计并期望缅甸议会通过一项吸引世界各国的新的投资法。
昂山素季承认，虽然缅甸在向民主过渡方面取得了进展，但是仍有“很多工作要做。”她以缅甸135个民族之间持续不断的紧张局势为例指出，她的政府目前关注的焦点是若开邦的局势，她说“族裔间的纷争不容忽视”。
President Barack Obama has announced that the United States is prepared to lift economic sanctions on Myanmar, following talks at the White House with the country's de facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi.
After their meeting Wednesday, both leaders spoke to reporters in the Oval Office. Citing that country's “remarkable social and political transformation,” Obama said, "The United States is now prepared to lift sanctions that we have imposed on Burma for quite some time.”
Earlier, he sent a letter to Congress saying the administration is moving to restore trade benefits to Myanmar that were suspended more than two decades ago because of human rights abuses.
Speaking alongside Obama, Aung San Suu Kyi thanked him personally for being the first U.S. president to visit Myanmar. She also thanked the Congress for putting pressure on Myanmar to restore human rights, but said the time has now come for the U.S. to lift all sanctions, saying, "But unity also needs prosperity, because people, when they have to fight over limited resources, forget that standing together is important."
She pleaded for people to visit and invest in the country, saying, “I expect businessmen to come to our country to make profits.” She said she expects Myanmar's legislature to pass a new investment law she hopes will be very attractive to countries around the world.
Aung San Suu Kyi acknowledged that while Myanmar has made progress in its transition to democracy, there is "so much that has to be done." She cited continuing tensions among its 135 ethnic groups, and said her administration is focused on the situation in Rakhine state, saying "communal strife is not something we can ignore."
