If ideas and beliefs are to be denied validity outside the geographical and cultural bounds of their origin, Buddhism would be confined to north India, Christianity to a narrow tract in the Middle East and Islam to Arabia.

I'm not the only one working for democracy in Burma - there are so many people who have worked for it because they believe that this is the only way we can maintain the dignity of our people.

As the twentieth century draws to a close it has become obvious that material yardsticks alone cannot serve as an adequate measure of human well-being. Even as basic an issue as poverty has to be re-examined to take into account the psychological sense of deprivation that makes people feel poor.

In politics, you also have to be cautiously optimistic.

I was heartened that people everywhere want certain basic freedoms, even if they live in a totally different cultural environment.

It is incorrect to say there have been no reforms at all in Burma; there have of course been reforms, but we still need to do more for the people. To become a democratic society we have to continually be reforming.

India and Burma have been close friends since the days we were struggling for independence. And I'm a great admirer of Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, and all those leaders of India's independence movement. I would like to believe the aspirations and hopes we shared in the past will continue to bind us in the future.