Obama meets with Nobel Laureate after US lifts sanction against Burmese

After a day in which the United States lifted sanctions against the president of Burma, President Barack Obama met with Burmese Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and expressed his admiration for her "courage, determination and personal sacrifice in championing democracy and human rights over the years." The US Treasury Department earlier Wednesday lifted sanctions against Burmese President Thein Sein and Lower House of Parliament Speaker Thura Shwe Mann by removing them from the list of Specially Designated Nationals. The action allows them access to once-blocked property and assets and allows transactions involving US persons or in the United States. "Today's removal also acknowledges Thein Sein and Thura Shwe Mann's efforts on behalf of reform and supports US national security and foreign policy goals, " the Treasury Department said. In the evening, Obama met with Suu Kyi, welcoming "Burma's democratic transition and the recent progress made by Aung San Suu Kyi, as leader of the National League for Democracy Party, working together with President Thein Sein." Obama reaffirmed "the determination of the United States to support their sustained efforts to promote political and economic reforms and to ensure full protection of the fundamental rights of the Burmese people," said a White House announcement. "The President expressed his conviction that the ongoing process of reconciliation and reform offers the people of that nation the opportunity to take charge of their destiny and to shape a more peaceful, free and prosperous future."