Kevin Rudd to visit Burma

By THE IRRAWADDY Saturday, June 25, 2011

Australian foreign minister Kevin Rudd will visit Burma next week and he will meet Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and government leaders.

During the visit, Mr Rudd will have discussions with members of Burma's new government and opposition figures including Suu Kyi.
“I will use these meetings to reiterate Australia's long-standing calls for genuine progress towards national reconciliation and democratic reform,” Mr Rudd said in a media release. “This visit comes at a critical juncture in Burma's history and will allow the Australian government to assess how it can best support reform and economic development.”

In 2002, Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer visited Burma. Mr Rudd’s visit will be the first high-ranking official visit since 2002.

 Opposition members say that Suu Kyi is likely to press Canberra to take a more active role in the setting up of a United Nations commission of inquiry into human rights in Burma. Australia supported calls by the UN's Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights situation in Burma, Tomas Ojea Quintana, for an independent commission into rights abuses in Burma.

This week, Suu Kyi urged US lawmakers to support the establishment of a Commission of Inquiry (CoI) by the United Nations into alleged human rights violations in Burma.