US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton held talks Thursday with Myanmar's new reform-minded President Thein Sein and elected parliamentarians, at the start of a two-day fact-finding mission to this state, according to Reuters. "This is an historic trip," Thein Sein said, welcoming Clinton to the presidential office in the capital Naypyitaw. After more than an hour discussion, Thein Sein and his wife Khin Khin Win hosted a lunch for Clinton, the first US secretary of state to visit Myanmar, also called Burma, in 56 years. After lunch, at which Clinton and Khin Khin Win were seen chatting and smiling in a relaxed manner, the top US diplomat visited Naypyitaw's massive new parliament complex where she met with the speaker of the lower house, Shwe Mann, and other legislators. Myanmar held its first election in two decade on November 7, which the pro-military Union Solidarity and Development Party won in far from "free and fair" conditions.
