Suu Kyi backs ethical UK investment
Aung San Suu Kyi said she would welcome "ethical, responsible investment" from British businesses as she prepared to visit the UK for the first time since being released from more than 20 years of house arrest.Ms Suu Kyi said she was looking forward to returning to Britain, where she lived, studied and married before returning and launching her long-fought campaign in Burma.
And while insisting on a need for "healthy scepticism" about reforms and progress in Burma, Ms Suu Kyi said the time was nearing when foreign investment could be appropriate.
Burma has significant energy reserves and Ms Suu Kyi was asked whether it would be appropriate for British firms such as BP or Shell to work in the country.
She said: "It depends on the way in which they do it. I have spoken about the democracy-friendly development growth, to invest in a way that will promote democracy in Burma, that will empower the people, that will bring in new players to the economic arena - not just the same old people who have been enjoying a privileged situation for years.
"Transparency is the key. Without transparency there can be no accountability and unless there is transparency we can never tell whether these investments are going to benefit the people or the already privileged few.
"I would be happy to see ethical, responsible (British) investment."
The four-day visit to the UK is part of a five-nation European tour, which saw the former political prisoner visit Norway to collect her Nobel Prize 21 years after it was awarded.
Speaking to the BBC's Andrew Marr programme, Ms Suu Kyi said she was looking forward her UK visit, which will include a speech to Parliamentarians in Westminster Hall and a visit to Oxford where she lived in the 1980s.
"Transparency is the key. Without transparency there can be no accountability and unless there is transparency we can never tell whether these investments are going to benefit the people or the already privileged few.
"I would be happy to see ethical, responsible (British) investment."
The four-day visit to the UK is part of a five-nation European tour, which saw the former political prisoner visit Norway to collect her Nobel Prize 21 years after it was awarded.
Speaking to the BBC's Andrew Marr programme, Ms Suu Kyi said she was looking forward her UK visit, which will include a speech to Parliamentarians in Westminster Hall and a visit to Oxford where she lived in the 1980s.
© 2013 Press Association