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From Katie Hunt, for CNN May 30, 2012 -- Updated 0230 GMT (1030 HKT) ...
(CNN) -- Myanmar's opposition leader Aung San Suu
Kyi made history Tuesday by stepping on foreign soil for the first time
in more than two decades when she arrived in Bangkok, Thailand.
The scene at the Bangkok
airport might have been unimaginable a couple of years ago. Suu Kyi
arrived not as a jailed activist but as a parliamentarian of her
homeland. The government of Myanmar, also known as Burma, has been
praised internationally of late for dramatic changes that have unfolded
there.
The pro-democracy activist will speak at the World Economic Forum on East Asia in the Thai capital this week.
During her six-day visit,
she will also address migrant workers from Myanmar and visit a refugee
camp near the Thai-Myanmar border.
The visit to Thailand
comes before a planned longer trip to Europe in June when she will visit
Britain, the colonial ruler of Myanmar, then known as Burma, and the
country where she received her university education and met her husband.
Aung San Suu Kyi takes oath of office
Aung San Suu Kyi talks to the press
British PM's historic visit to Myanmar
She will also travel to
Oslo, Norway, and deliver her long-delayed acceptance speech for the
Nobel Peace Prize she was awarded in 1991.
During the brief periods
of freedom from her long detention, Suu Kyi had always refused to leave
the country, fearing that she would not be allowed back in.
Myanmar, however, has seen dramatic changes over the past year.
In May, Suu Kyi and 33
other newly elected members of her National League for Democracy party
took up their seats in the Myanmar Parliament, a leap in the country's
progress toward democracy.
The government has also
pardoned hundreds of political prisoners, begun negotiations with ethnic
rebel groups and embarked on a series of economic reforms.
Those steps have been
welcomed by the United States, European Union and other governments, who
have responded by easing sanctions on the country.
Suu Kyi has a packed schedule during her visit to Thailand.
On Wednesday, she will
meet migrant workers from Myanmar and their families at a community
center in Mahachai, southwest of Bangkok, where she will also tour a
shrimp market.
She will address the
World Economic Forum on Friday morning and take part in a panel
discussion entitled "Asian Women as the Way Forward."
Her visit will conclude
with a trip on Saturday to the Mae La refugee camp that is home to tens
of thousands of Karen and other ethnic groups that were displaced by
fighting inside Myanmar.
There she will also meet with ethnic leaders before her return Sunday to Myanmar.
Before leaving Myanmar
on Tuesday, Suu Kyi was expected to meet with Indian Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh who is visiting that nation.
Singh held talks with Myanmar President Thein Sein on Monday, signing agreements to strengthen trade and diplomatic ties.
Thein Sein, the former
military official whose civilian government has instituted many of the
country's recent political reforms, was also due to attend the World
Economic Forum.
However, organizers said his appearance had been canceled.
CNN's Katie Hunt reported from Hong Kong and Kocha Olarn contributed from Bangkok.
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