Aung San Suu Kyi has called for “democracy-friendly” investment in Myanmar that strengthens the process of democratisation, in a speech to the annual meeting of United Nations International Labour Organization (ILO) in Geneva on Thursday.
The icon of Myanmar’s democracy movement is in Geneva on the first stop of a historic trip to Europe – 24 years ago she left the continent for what was then a military-controlled nation called Burma.
“What I would like to see for our country is democracy-friendly development growth. I would like to call for aid and investment that will strengthen the democratisation process by promoting social and economic process that is beneficial to political reform,” she told the conference.
Businesses have been keen to invest in the recourse-rich southeast Asian nation, since it began easing restrictions on democratic and social freedoms.
Suu Kyi also emphasised the need for rule of law and an end to ethnic conflict in Myanmar.
“Strong democratic institutions that will guarantee basic human rights are necessary to ensure good government based on transparency, accountability and enhancement of integrity,” she said.
The trip is seen as a gesture to those governments and organisations that supported her peaceful struggle against Myanmar’s generals over more than two decades, 15 years of which she spent under house arrest.
Later on Thursday she is due to hold talks with Swiss Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter on the continuing political process in the southeast Asian state.
While in Switzerland, Myanmar’s pro-democracy leader will also meet and talk to young people and will be guest of honour at a dinner hosted by the Swiss President Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf. A visit to the Swiss parliament in Bern will take place on Friday.
Suu Kyi later flies to Oslo, where she will formally receive the Nobel Peace Prize that was awarded 21 years ago.
European tour
Suu Kyi spent 15 out of 22 years under house arrest imposed by the former military regime, during which time she occasionally spoke to the outside world through audio and video messages.
She was granted freedom after Myanmar held elections in 2010 and was elected to parliament in April.
During her two-week European tour she also plans to visit France and Ireland, where she will be feted by rock band U2 and its activist lead singer Bono at a concert hosted by the human rights group Amnesty International.
Next week she will stop over in Britain. Suu Kyi studied and lived in Britain for years, and it is in Myanmar’s former colonial power that she left behind husband Michael Aris and their two sons when she travelled to her homeland in 1988 to nurse her ailing mother.
Aris died of cancer in 1999, having been denied a visa to Myanmar. Suu Kyi had refused to leave the country, fearing she would be permanently exiled by a junta that saw the daughter of Myanmar’s independence hero General Aung San as a threat to its power.
The 66-year-old will address both houses of Britain’s parliament during her visit and accept an honorary doctorate at Oxford.
Eager to compete with China and Japan for Myanmar’s abundant resources and emerging consumer class, European countries in April lifted decades-old sanctions imposed on the junta.
Suu Kyi’s visit marks a new milestone in the political changes that have swept through the country since decades of military rule ended last year, bringing to power a new quasi-civilian government.
However, wariness remains over the intentions of Myanmar’s President Thein Sein, who retains close ties to the military, and a recent wave of deadly sectarian violence between Buddhists and Muslims in western Myanmar that rights groups say has the potential to escalate.
Switzerland plans to open an embassy in Myanmar in the next few months and increase its development aid to about SFr25 million ($25.8 million) over the next four years.
The government notably acknowledges the country’s great economic potential and its appeal as a tourist destination.
As part of strengthening development cooperation with Myanmar, Switzerland plans to launch programmes on agriculture and food security, as well as vocational training and mine clearing.