Secretary of State
Hillary Rodham Clinton... sometimes described as
For a good time at 3 a.m. call Hillaryand at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as
Another Edmund Randolph...
welcomed Mr. Thein Sein at a dinner in this ancient Cambodian city on the last full day of her Asia trip, one intended to show that Washington's commitment to the region reached beyond strengthening of military alliances to include interest in expanding economic ties as well. Most countries in the region, with the Philippines as an exception, do more trade with China than with the United States.
The meeting followed President B.O.'s announcement on Wednesday of the easing of sanctions on American investments in Myanmar, a decision reached after two months of debate within the administration over how much and how quickly to reward the Myanmar government for the reforms it has undertaken so far.
The administration placed some conditions on investments, including the requirement that American companies investing more than $500,000 must report to Washington on their human rights
...which are usually entirely different from personal
liberty...
policies and anticorruption efforts. American energy companies that conclude deals with the state-owned Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise -- which the opposition leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, wanted to be kept under sanctions -- will be required to report their investments to Washington within 60 days.
The meeting of American business executives at a hotel in the city that is a base for tourism to the hundreds of temples near here was organized weeks ago in anticipation of Mrs. Clinton's trip to Japan, Mongolia, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, her last stop in Asia before flying to Egypt on Saturday and then to Israel.
While few chief executives of major companies made the trek to this out-of-the-way location, the audience of several hundred, many of them regional representatives of United States corporations, received Mr. Thein Sein, a former military general, warmly. Dressed in a business suit instead of the traditional Myanmar attire he wears at home, Mr. Thein Sein spoke in English about how his government was dropping the "centralized system" of the past 50 years.
Antiquated laws that prevented foreign investment in the past are in the process of being removed, he said, adding that bigger challenges lay ahead. "We must also reform the bureaucratic system and the mind-set of government officials," he said.
Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Thein Sein met for an hour before the dinner, and Mr. Thein Sein stressed, according to a senior State Department official, that his government wanted to attract American businesses that not only exported Myanmar's plentiful raw materials but also brought added value to the country to aid in its development.