Italy pledged to continue to sustain democratic development in Myanmar, said Minister Emma Bonino at the end of a meeting at the foreign ministry in Rome with Aung San Suu Kyi, who is visting Europe and today met also with the Pope, President Napolitano and Premier Letta
Suu Kyi asks for Italy’s support in battle to change constitution
The leader of the Burmese opposition and Nobel laureate asked that, in all its institutional encounters, Italy carry a message to her county’s authorities to change the constitution. “Italy has already done that, and will continue to do so”, the minister underscored, recalling her recent meeting in Rome with her Burmese counterpart. Time runs out on 15 November for the advancement of proposals for the revision of the constitution and on 31 December for drafting the final report, so it will “already be clear in the coming weeks whether it is going to be possible to amend the constitution”, the minister added.
Suu Kyi, touched by Rome’s welcome
Suu Kyi, who is a candidate for the next presidential elections in 2015, expressed her thanks to Italy for its support for the cause of all the Burmese people, saying that she was touched by the welcome she received in Rome, where she was awarded honorary citizenship in 1994. “I hope”, she added, “that you will continue to support us” in a battle “to build democratic institutions that has been going on for 20 years but that has not yet been won”.
Bonino, I finally see her not in video
“It is a pleasure for me to see Aung San Suu Kyi in person, after so many years of only video”, Bonino then said, recalling her last visit with Suu Kyi in 1996. Citing former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright as having one day “I can’t stand any more video, and I dream of seeing her one day in person”. Bonino added that “today it is my pleasure to welcome her”.
