On his first official visit to the United Kingdom, Myanmar President Thein Sein said all political prisoners in his country would be released "by the end of the year," according to BBC News.
Thein Sein made the remarks after talks with British Prime Minister David Cameron in London. This is the first time in the last twenty five years that a leader from Myanmar, earlier known as Burma, has made an official trip to England.
"I guarantee to you that by the end of this year there will be no prisoners of conscience in Myanmar," said President Thein Sein to an audience at the Chatham House think-tank in London, Monday.
"We are aiming for nothing less than a transition from half a century of military rule and authoritarianism to democracy," said Thein Sein.
"By the end of the year there will be no prisoners of conscience in Myanmar," said the president.
He added that a special committee was reviewing every political inmate's case.
After President Thein took over in March 2010, hundreds of political detainees have been released. Before that the government barely acknowledged the presence of political prisoners.
Releasing political prisoners is a part of the ongoing political reformation in the country.
President Cameron earlier expressed his concern about the treatment of Rohingya Muslims in the Buddhist-majority country. Cameron told the Myanmar president that the government needed to do more regarding its human rights record.
The ongoing sectarian violence in Burma has taken hundreds of lives, leaving tens of thousands- mostly Rohingya Muslims- displaced.
As Myanmar is embracing reforms, Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy that boycotted the November 2010 polls, has also joined the political process and Suu Kyi announced recently that she would be contesting the 2015 presidential election.
