US officially terminates sanctions order

After imposing economic sanctions on Myanmar for nearly two decades, the US formally abolished the blacklist on October 7. US President Barack Obama signed an executive order terminating the sanctions, following his pledge to do so made when State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi visited the White House on September 14. Lifting the remaining sanctions is “a testament to the far-reaching changes that Myanmar has undergone in the past few years, and are intended to support efforts by the civilian government and the people of Myanmar to continue their process of political reform and broad-based economic growth and prosperity”, the US Treasury Department said in a statement. The order also reinstates preferential tariffs for Myanmar that were suspended more than two decades ago due to human rights abuses.

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