According to a report by Dow Jones on the 15th, on Wednesday local time, U.S. President Obama said that the country would lift sanctions against Myanmar that had been imposed for nearly 20 years. This decision cleared the final obstacle to the full normalization of relations between the two countries.

Obama announced the decision during a meeting in the Office of the President with Myanmar's de facto leader and the country's State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi. Like Obama, 71-year-old Aung San Suu Kyi is also a Nobel Prize winner.

This is her first meeting with Obama at the White House since becoming Myanmar's leader. The lifting of sanctions means the end of nearly 30 years of tense diplomatic relations between the United States and Myanmar.

Obama said that the United States is now ready to lift the sanctions that have been imposed on Myanmar for a long time. He said this was the right thing to do to ensure that the people of Myanmar saw the benefits of the new way of doing business and the new government.

In 1990, the United States recalled its ambassador to Myanmar because the Myanmar military refused to transfer power to a civilian government. The United States imposed sanctions on Myanmar in 1997 and they have remained in some form ever since.

In 2011, when the Myanmar military government began to transfer power to the civilian government, the United States began to relax sanctions on Myanmar. In Myanmar's general election last November, the party led by Aung San Suu Kyi won and turned from an opposition party into the ruling party.

Reuters stated that Aung San Suu Kyi mentioned during the meeting that the U.S. Congress has supported Myanmar’s democratic reforms by sanctioning the military government in the past. Now, “we believe it is time to remove all sanctions that harm our economy.”

According to reports, along with Aung San Suu Kyi’s visit, the White House issued a statement stating that it would restore Myanmar’s General System of Preferences (GSP) qualifications. Under the Generalized System of Preferences, developed countries will grant preferential tariff treatment to goods imported from poor and developing countries.

After the ruling military in Myanmar suppressed domestic movements in 1989, the country was deprived of its GSP benefits. U.S. officials said Myanmar will be brought back into the scope of the project after November 13.

However, U.S. officials said that the lifting of sanctions does not involve the issue of military assistance. Citing unnamed officials, Dow Jones said lifting remaining sanctions would require Myanmar to show more progress in reducing the military's influence on the government. Earlier this year, U.S. Secretary of State Kerry said that if Myanmar wants the United States to lift remaining sanctions, Myanmar needs to amend its constitution to ensure the power of the democratically elected government.

However, Reuters reported that there are doubts within the U.S. Congress about lifting sanctions on Myanmar due to dissatisfaction with the human rights situation in Myanmar. Some human rights watch groups were also quick to speak out and condemn the government's decision to lift sanctions.

Aung San Suu Kyi has been accused of not making any efforts to address the dire situation of the country's Rohingya minority. The Myanmar government denies citizenship to the Rohingya, treating them as illegal refugees from Bangladesh. Since 2012, approximately 125,000 Rohingya people have been living in temporary camps in extremely miserable conditions.