Myanmar

Good afternoon.

I am concluding my third visit to this country – but my first visit to the new Myanmar.

I leave with profound hope and expectation in the future of this great country.

Over the last three days, I met with President Thein Sein, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and many other leaders from across government, business and civil society.

From every front -- at every level, I heard a genuine commitment for democracy, political reform and reconciliation.

It is an honour and a pleasure to meet with you today at this most remarkable gathering of domestic and international companies in Myanmar.

And we are here at a remarkable time. This is my third day in Myanmar and the spirit of reform and change is everywhere.

I believe the decisions Myanmar makes in the next few years could truly shape Myanmar for the next few generations.

I have met a cross-section of leaders and I am convinced the reform effort is real. The challenge is to ensure that people feel the benefits of reform in their daily lives.

Thank you, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Minglapa. It is a great honour for me to finally have a face-to-face meeting with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. It is not for lack of my trying, but simply it didn’t happen and they didn’t allow [it]. Only at the third time, I am meeting her, and we had a very constructive exchange of views on all spectrums of the issues which the Myanmar Government and the Myanmar people will work together [on] with the international community, including the United Nations.

It is a great honour to take part in this important ceremony.

At a time of historic change for Myanmar, a time when new prospects exist for ensuring the well-being of all the country’s people, it is essential to know just who those people are -- how many, what age, what background, their economic status, their family size and their location. That is what the next census can and must achieve.

A census is a crucially important undertaking.

Mingalaba.

What a privilege it is for me to take part in this extraordinary session of the Union Assembly. And what an honour to be the first outside guest to address this august assembly.

I believe deeply in the potential of this great land. Above all, I believe in the future of the great people of Myanmar.

That is why, as Secretary-General of the United Nations, I have sought always to help Myanmar open once again to the wider world.

Your Excellency the Prime Minister of the Union of Myanmar,

Your Excellency the Foreign Minister of Singapore, representing ASEAN,

Your Excellency the Secretary-General of ASEAN,

Distinguished ladies and gentlemen,

Let us begin by paying our respects to the courage and the resilience of the people of Myanmar, who are suffering such hardship and terrible personal loss. We stand with them, as we do with the victims of the recent earthquake in China.