President Barack Obama made the announcement Friday after talking with pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who was released one year ago after spending 15 of the previous 21 years under house arrest for her opposition to authoritarian rule in the southeast Asian nation.
Clinton's trip is an indication that Myanmar, also known as Burma, has made some progress toward democracy and that the time could be right to forge a new relationship between the nations, the White House said.
"That possibility will depend upon the Burmese government taking more concrete action," Obama said. "If Burma fails to move down the path of reform, it will continue to face sanctions and isolation. But if it seizes this moment, then reconciliation can prevail, and millions of people may get the chance to live with a greater measure of freedom, prosperity and dignity. And that possibility is too important to ignore."
Clinton plans to test whether Myanmar is committed to both economic and political reform, she said Friday.
"There certainly does seem to be an opening," she said. "How real it is, how far it goes -- we will have to make sure we have a better understanding than we do right now."
In a possible sign of progress toward democracy, Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy met Friday and announced that she will run in the next parliamentary elections, as yet unscheduled. The group also decided to re-enter politics.
"NLD has decided to re-register as a political party and will participate in all elections in the future, as there are many demands from our people to do this," said Kyi Toe, the party's information officer.
In Yangon on Monday, Suu Kyi told journalists and diplomats that in addition to her yearnings for political freedom for the country, she "deeply believed that the president (of Myanmar) also wants a change."
