Inside Development

Hillary Clinton Ends Myanmar Visit With $1.2M Offer

By Jenny Lei Ravelo @JennyLeiRavelo05 December 2011

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton wrapped up her two-day visit in Myanmar with a $1.2 million offer to the war-torn country.

The funding would go to two of the four initiatives Clinton mentioned in a news conference in Rangoon.

According to a senior state department official who was with the secretary during the trip, $1 million will be allotted for microcredit lending and $200,000 for land mine victims. He said funding for the English-language initiative will come from Brunei, but that money in support of academic exchanges between American institutions on health and governance is “still in the conversation phase.”

“We are prepared to go further if the reforms maintain momentum,” Clinton said. “We have to see the rhetoric translate into concrete steps.”

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About the author

Jenny Lei Ravelo@JennyLeiRavelo

Jenny Lei Ravelo is a Devex senior reporter based in Manila. Since 2011, she has covered a wide range of development and humanitarian aid issues, from leadership and policy changes at DfID to the logistical and security impediments faced by international and local aid responders in disaster-prone and conflict-affected countries in Africa and Asia. Her interests include global health and the analysis of aid challenges and trends in sub-Saharan Africa.