Aung San Suu Kyi visiting France on last leg of European tour

GlobalPost

Aung San Suu Kyi will spend four days in France on the last leg of her historic European tour.

According to Agence France-Presse, the Myanmar pro-democracy leader and Nobel Peace laureate — arriving from London by train — will meet with French President Francois Hollande, as well as students from Paris' famous Sorbonne University.

During a four-day stay, Suu Kyi will also meet with the heads of France's National Assembly and the Senate, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, and Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe, according to VOA.

"France will pay tribute to this woman's exceptional struggle for human rights and will mark its active support for the democratic transition underway" in Myanmar, foreign ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said, AFP reported.

The 67-year-old has already visited Switzerland, Ireland, Norway — where she received the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize — and Britain.

Following a protocol usually reserved for heads of state, she was invited to a formal dinner in her honor at the Elysee Palace, Radio France International reported.

She will also participate in a panel discussion at Sorbonne University attended by more than a thousand students, according to RFI.

Pierre Martial, the head of the France Aung San Suu Kyi association, said she would use the visit to urge French authorities and businesses to back the country's democratic transition.

"She is calling on some countries to give concrete help, to invest… in a reasonable and fair way, to help the country revive after years of economic and political horror," he said.

Suu Kyi is set to return to Myanmar June 29.

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