Aung San Suu Kyi first trip out of Burma in 24 years
- Published
Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has arrived in Thailand on her first trip outside Burma in more than two decades.
She is attending the World Economic Forum on East Asia.
For the past two decades she has been either under house arrest or afraid that if she left Burma she would not be allowed to go back.
But recent reforms led to her election to parliament last month and she is confident she will be able to return.
The pro-democracy leader was given a passport in early May.
As she left the airport in Rangoon she told the AFP news agency the trip was "part of my job. I'm going to stay for four or five days... I will visit one refugee camp".
An estimated 130,000 Burmese refugees live in camps in Thailand having fled persecution at home.
After her trip to Thailand she plans to return to Burma before travelling to Europe in June.
She intends to go to Norway to formally accept the Nobel Peace Prize which she won in 1991, and will also visit the UK where she has family.
It is also reported that she will go to Geneva, Paris and Ireland.
Before she caught her flight to Thailand, Aung San Suu Kyi met Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who was visiting Burma - the first Indian leader to do so since 1987.
He invited her to go to India to deliver a prestigious Nehru Memorial Lecture, the BBC's Sanjoy Majumder reports from Rangoon.
During Mr Singh's visit the two countries signed a series of deals including a $500m (£319m) credit line.
They also agreed on border area development, air services, cultural exchange and the establishment of a joint trade and investment forum.