Paris: Myanmar’s democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi, nearing the end of her triumphant Europe tour in France, was due to accept another award on Wednesday, becoming an honorary citizen of Paris.
The Nobel Peace laureate — who has spent almost two decades under house arrest for her freedom struggle — has been cheered by crowds and leaders on her five-nation tour, her first visit to Europe in a quarter-century.
In France, she was treated with honours normally reserved for a head of state, dining at the Elysee Palace Tuesday with President Francois Hollande, who pledged support for her country’s transition towards democracy.
Myanmar was for decades ruled by an iron-fisted military junta, but a reformist government under ex-general President Thein Sein has allowed Suu Kyi’s party back into mainstream politics.
Suu Kyi, 67, has in the past two weeks visited Switzerland, Norway, Ireland, Britain and now France, receiving rock star welcomes along the way.
The trip allowed her to finally give her 1991 Nobel Peace Prize speech in Oslo, and to thank groups and institutions from the Rafto Foundation and Amnesty International to Oxford University for awards they have given her.
On Wednesday, she was to receive her 2004 honorary citizen of Paris certificate and have lunch with Mayor Bertrand Delanoe. City Hall once honoured Suu Kyi by hanging up a huge portrait of her in 2007.
She has enjoyed strong support among rights groups in France and was the subject of a 2011 French-English film biography, ‘The Lady’, directed by French filmmaker Luc Besson and starring Michelle Yeoh.
Suu Kyi was also to meet Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius on the second day of her three-day visit to France, where she travelled from London.
On Tuesday Hollande said France gave its full backing to the democratic transition efforts in Myanmar, and said Paris was ready to welcome Thein Sein, who also received an invitation from former colonial ruler Britain last week.
Major Western powers have rolled back or suspended long-standing sanctions against Myanmar, a resource-rich but impoverished country.
Suu Kyi has on her tour called for transparent and human rights-friendly investment.
“We need democracy as well as economic development,” she said on Tuesday.
“Development cannot be a substitute for democracy, it must be used to strengthen the foundations of democracy.”
Suu Kyi said “financial transparency in the extractive industries and in fact business in general” were essential to investment.
She said efforts were still needed to convince the former regime of the need for democratic reforms, but that Thein Sein seemed sincere.
