US President Barack Obama will this November become the first US president to visit Burma. The White House has revealed.
Obama will meet President Thein Sein and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
It is part of a three-leg tour from 17 to 20 November that will also take in Thailand and Cambodia.
The government of Burma has begun implementing economic, political and other reforms, a process the Obama administration sought to encourage.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was previously the most senior US official to go to Burma when she visited in December 2011.
The trip is built around the summit of the Association of South East Asian Nations in Cambodia, which leaders from China, Japan and Russia will also attend.
In a statement, White House spokesman Jay Carney said Mr Obama intended to “speak to civil society to encourage Burma’s ongoing democratic transition”.
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