Clinton from Myanmar: We will support reforms to improve the country

Hillary Clinton began her first substantive talks with Myanmar's new leaders on Thursday, kicking off the first trip by a US secretary of state to the country also known as Burma in more than half a century.

Looking to cement a foreign policy success and encourage a move towards democracy and openness in one of the world's most isolated and authoritarian nations, Clinton sought to test the willingness of Myanmar's leaders to expand nascent reforms.

Clinton told Myanmar's President Thein Sein on Thursday that Washington was encouraged by the steps his government had taken to provide for his people. However she added that she was hopeful but not yet convinced that "flickers of progress" in the Southeast Asian country will burst into flames of change.

Clinton was meeting senior Myanmar officials, including the president, the foreign minister and top lawmakers, in the capital Naypyidaw before heading to the commercial capital of Yangon.

There she will see opposition leader and Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who is returning to the political scene after decades of detention, harassment and violent repression.