U.S. President Barack Obama kisses Aung San Suu Kyi following joint remarks at her residence in Yangon, President Obama became the first serving U.S. president to visit Myanmar on Monday.
Photo: Reuters

US President Barack Obama urged Myanmar yesterday to hasten its “remarkable” reforms on a historic visit during which he was feted by huge crowds and met democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi at the home where she was long locked up.

The trip, the first to Myanmar by a serving US president, came as the country’s regime freed dozens more political prisoners to burnish its reform credentials and after the US joined other Western powers in relaxing its sanctions.