Timeline: Suu Kyi’s Foreign Visits
By The Irrawaddy 23 June 2016
As Burma’s State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi arrives in Thailand for an official three-day trip on Thursday, The Irrawaddy looks back on her various international visits since her release from house arrest in 2010.
2016
May 7: On her first official trip abroad as Burma’s State Counselor, Suu Kyi travels to Laos.
2015
June 10: At the invitation of the Communist Party of China, Suu Kyi makes her first visit to Beijing and meets President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang.
2014
April: She meets with Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Joachim Gauck in Berlin during a three-day visit to Germany, and then visits France and holds talks with President François Hollande.
2013
Jan 25: Suu Kyi attends the Rotary Global Peace Forum in Hawaii and receives the Hawaii Peace Award. She also meets the governor of Hawaii and the local Burmese community in Honolulu.
Jan 29: Suu Kyi visits the South Korean capital of Seoul where she holds talks with President Lee Myung-bak and the first woman president-elect of the country Park Geun-hye. She delivers a speech at the Global Development Summit in Pyeongchang. She then visits Gwangju where she collects the Gwangju Prize for Human Rights awarded to her in 2004.
April 13: Suu Kyi calls on Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Tokyo during her first visit to Japan in 27 years. She last visited Japan in 1986, when she worked as a researcher at Kyoto University. She also meets Japanese senior leaders, Burmese democracy activists and students from Tokyo University.
April 29: Suu Kyi addresses the 7th Ministerial Conference of the Community of Democracies in Mongolia’s Ulaanbaatar.
September 11: She visits Poland and meets Speaker of the Sejm, Ewa Kopacz, and Speaker of the Senate, Bogdan Borusewicz, during her second visit to Europe.
September 13: Suu Kyi visits Hungary and meets Hungarian President Janos Ader and Deputy Foreign Minister Zsolt Nemeth in Budapest.
September 14: She makes her first visit to the Czech Republic as the keynote speaker of the Forum 2000 Conference and meets the Czech president and foreign minister in Prague.
September 20: She delivers the keynote speech at the Singapore Summit 2013. She calls on President Tony Tan Keng Yam and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
October 19: Suu Kyi visits Belgium, beginning her third tour of Europe.
October 21: She visits Luxembourg where she meets foreign ministers of 28 European countries.
October 22: Suu Kyi accepts the 1990 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought in Strasbourg, France, originally awarded to her in 1991.
October 25: She delivers a speech at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst during her UK visit.
October 27: She receives honorary citizenship in Rome during her visit to Italy.
November 27: During her first visit to Australia, the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws is conferred upon Suu Kyi by Chancellor Belinda Hutchinson AM at a ceremony held in the Concert Hall of the Opera House. The chancellor and vice-chancellor of the University of Technology Sydney also confer an honorary doctorate upon her at the joint ceremony. The award was originally bestowed on her in 1997 and given to her late husband in her absence.
December 10: She attends the World Innovation Summit for Health in Doha, Qatar.
2012
May 30: Suu Kyi visits Thailand on her first foreign trip in 24 years to attend the World Economic Forum (WEF) on East Asia in Bangkok. She also visits a Karen refugee camp along the Thai-Burma border in Tak Province.
June 14: She delivers an address at the 101st International Labor Conference of the ILO in Geneva, Switzerland starting her first two-week tour of Europe in which she visits Norway, the UK, Switzerland, France and Ireland.
June 16: Suu Kyi collects her Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway 21 years after winning the award in 1991.
June 18: She accepts Amnesty International’s Ambassador of Conscience Award—the organization’s most prestigious honor—in Dublin, Ireland.
June 20: Suu Kyi gives a historic speech to both of Britain’s houses of parliament, receives an honorary doctorate in civil law from Oxford University and meets UK Prime Minister David Cameron.
June 27: She visits France and meets French President François Hollande in Paris.
September 15: Suu Kyi visits the US, accepts the Congressional Gold Medal in Washington D.C. and meets President Barack Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon.
November 14: Suu Kyi meets Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during her visit to India, where she went to high school and college.
Compiled by Wei Yan Aung and Thet Ko Ko.
