President Thein Sein's historic invitation to the White House is an endorsement of "Myanmar's Spring" and a further sign that the former pariah's reforms are irreversible, a senior Myanmar official said. Washington will welcome the former general on Monday in a hugely symbolic reward for sweeping changes since he took power two years ago. He will be the first leader of the former military-ruled nation to visit since 1966.

Myanmar President Thein Sein will meet with U.S. President Barack Obama at the White House on Monday, it said Wednesday. Thein Sein, who will be the first head of the Southeast Asian country to make an official trip to the United States since 1966, is expected to discuss with Obama challenges to efforts to "develop democracy, address communal and ethnic tensions and bring economic opportunity to the people of his country," the White House said in a statement. Obama paid the first visit as a U.S. president to Myanmar in November.

Myanmar's president will soon make the first state visit to the United States by a leader of the former pariah nation in almost half a century, state television announced Monday. It did not say exactly when former general Thein Sein -- whose quasi-civilian government has won international plaudits for its political reforms since taking power two years ago -- would travel to Washington. Myanmar government officials told AFP they were aware of the planned visit but did not know the precise dates.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Thursday lifted another set of sanctions against Myanmar to support reforms in the formerly army-ruled country, while retaining visa and investment bans against individuals accused of human rights abuses. The Obama administration decided that a 1996 ban on granting U.S. entry visas to the former Burma's military rulers, their business partners and immediate families was no longer necessary after two years of reforms, the State Department said in a statement.