WASHINGTON, Sept 20: Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi met US President Barack Obama at the White House and received the highest congressional award on Wednesday.

Suu Kyi held private talks with Obama in the Oval Office after being feted by lawmakers in the ornate US Capitol, where she was presented with the Congressional Gold Medal for her long fight for democracy in a country ruled by army generals since 1962.

“This is one of the most moving days of my life, to be here in a house undivided, a house joined together to welcome a stranger from a distant land,” she said.

“Among all these faces are some I saw while I was under house arrest, and some I saw after I was released from house arrest,” said Suu Kyi, acknowledging strong support from US lawmakers during her 17 years of house arrest.

The Oval Office setting for the first meeting between the two Nobel Peace laureates afforded Suu Kyi’s visit some of the trappings normally reserved for visiting foreign presidents and prime ministers. But the White House, apparently treading carefully lest they allow the Suu Kyi events upstage Myanmar’s government, kept the meeting low-key. —Reuters