DHAKA: US President Barack Obama is to hold talks with Myanmar's President Thein Sein, hours after accusing his government of backsliding on reforms.

Obama is in the capital, Nay Pyi Taw, for the East Asia summit, which follows Wednesday's Asean meeting.

In an interview with a Thai-based Burmese website ahead of his arrival, he said that progress had been made.

But he said reform momentum had slowed in Myanmar and that there had even been some steps backwards.

"Burma is still at the beginning of a long and hard journey of renewal and reconciliation," Mr Obama wrote in the interview with The Irrawaddy magazine.

In some areas there had been progress, he said, including "the release of additional political prisoners, a process of constitutional reform, and ceasefire agreements" relating to conflicts with Myanmar's minority groups.

But he said progress had not come as fast as many had hoped when the transition from military to civilian rule began in November 2010.

He cited restrictions on political prisoners, the arrest of journalists and the ongoing plight of the Rohingya Muslim minority displaced in Rakhine state after anti-Muslim violence.

"Even as there has been some progress on the political and economic fronts, in other areas there has been a slowdown and backsliding in reforms," he wrote.

Mr Obama is due to meet Thein Sein on Thursday night, after meetings with Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and Burmese parliament members and civic leaders, said AP news agency.

Source: BBC

BDST: 1500 HRS, NOV 13, 2014