The US has taken the first concrete steps towards an improved relationship with Myanmar today, where a government official spoke to imprisoned opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. But a foreign policy analyst told Radio Netherlands he doesn’t expect concrete outcomes from this visit – even if it is the highest-level delegation of its kind in 14 years.

Listen to an interview with Ernest Bower of the CSIS:

US Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell met Ms Suu Kyi for more than two hours at a hotel near Inya lake in the capital Yangon. He also met Myanmar’s Prime Minister Thein Sein during the trip, which the US has described as a “fact-finding” mission.

In September President Barack Obama’s administration announced it would engage Myanmar in dialogue, in stark contrast to the previous policy of isolating the military regime with economic sanctions. Today’s was the second meeting of its kind since he took that decision.

Ernest Bower, a Burma expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington DC, says it is a positive first step but does not expect any radical changes in relations between the two countries.

 
“I think you should keep expectations low, initially. This is the very beginning of a turn in US policy to try to engage so the initial meetings will be to feel each other out and start to define what may be possible.”
 
The one person Kurt Campbell didn’t meet was General Than Shwe, head of the military junta that has ruled Myanmar – formerly known as Burma – for the past 17 years. Ernest Bower says it’s unlikely such a meeting will be forthcoming.

 
“We have to start somewhere and Than Shwe is clearly the decision-maker in the Burmese government and I think it’s fair to say that without his approval there won’t be serious movement on the Burmese side.”

Elections have been planned in Myanmar for 2010 and the US wants to ensure they will be free and fair. The US delegation said today it would pursue deeper engagement to prompt democratic reforms in an attempt to enable Ms Suu Kyi to take part in the vote – something that seems highly unlikely given her ongoing detention.

Kurt Campbell said: “Towards that end, we urge the Burmese government to allow Aung San Suu Kyi more frequent interactions with stakeholders, especially the central executive committee of her own party.”