UN chief Ban Ki-moon has urged Western nations to further ease sanctions against Burma, in a major show of support for changes sweeping through the country.
"I welcome the action taken so far by the international community, but more needs to be done," he said in a speech in parliament in Burma, officially known as Myanmar.
"Today, I urge the international community to go even further in lifting, suspending, or easing trade restrictions and other sanctions," he said, following talks with reformist President Thein Sein.
Mr Ban is the latest in a string of high-level international visitors amid a thaw in Burma's relations with Western nations, which have begun rolling back sanctions against Burma to reward political changes.
He is also due to meet opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on what is his first trip to the country since decades of military rule ended last year.
Ms Suu Kyi was not in parliament to hear the UN leader's address because of a row over the swearing-in oath.
But she said today she would pledge to "safeguard" the army-created constitution.
The European Union has suspended for one year a wide range of trade, economic and individual sanctions, although it left intact an arms embargo.
But the US has ruled out an immediate end to its main sanctions on Burma.
The Burmese government has eased media censorship, legalised trade unions, freed more than 600 political prisoners and begun an economic overhaul.
It has also struck ceasefire deals with a dozen ethnic rebel armies.
