German President Joachim Gauck (left) greets people during a visit to the Shwedagon pagoda in Yangon yesterday.

DPA/Yangon

German President Joachim Gauck yesterday praised Myanmar for taking steps towards democracy, adding that the country’s progress was the reason that Germany had approved a 500mn-euro ($682mn) debt relief package for the southeast Asian country.

“Burma has made bold steps towards democracy,” said Gauck during a visit to the Shwedadong Pagoda in Myanmar’s capital Yangon, which marked the first state visit by a German president to Burma since 1986.

Gauck also said he was looking forward to his meeting today with Nobel peace prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi — Burmese opposition politician and chairwoman of the National League for Democracy (NLD) — adding that he planned to ask her if she would run for president in the 2015 election.

 

 

 

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