US President Barack Obama is making a historic visit to Burma, the first by a sitting US president.
Crowds of people, some waving US flags, lined the streets of Rangoon as he drove to meet President Thein Sein.
Later he meets pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and delivers a speech at Rangoon University.
The visit is intended to show support for the reform process put in place by Burmese President Thein Sein since the end of military rule in November 2010.
Ahead of the visit Mr Obama urged Burma’s leaders to continue to reform, saying more progress was needed.
Critics warn the visit could be too hasty, with political prisoners behind bars and ethnic conflicts unresolved.
‘No illusions’
Mr Obama touched down in Rangoon in Air Force One on Monday morning after a short flight from Thailand. He will spend some six hours in the country but will not visit the capital, Nay Pyi Taw.
Instead his time will be spent in Burma’s commercial capital – as well as meeting top leaders, he will address students at a university at the heart of pro-democracy protests in 1988 that were violently suppressed by the regime.
Mr Obama is also expected to announce an aid pledge worth $170m (£107m).
Speaking in the Thai capital, Bangkok, on Sunday, he said his visit was not an unqualified endorsement of the Burmese government.
“I don’t think anybody is under any illusion that Burma’s arrived, that they’re where they need to be,” he said.
“On the other hand, if we waited to engage until they had achieved a perfect democracy, my suspicion is we’d be waiting an awful long time,” he added.
Mr Obama is being accompanied by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton – who returns to Burma almost a year after her first visit.
Thein Sein’s government came to power after widely-criticised polls in November 2010 that saw military rule replaced with a military-backed civilian government.
Since then – to the surprise of many – his administration has embarked on a reform process. Many – but not all – political prisoners have been freed, censorship has been relaxed and some economic reforms enacted.
Ms Suu Kyi was freed from house arrest shortly after the polls. Her NLD party, which boycotted the elections, has since rejoined the political process. It now has a small presence in parliament, after a landslide win in by-elections deemed generally free and fair in April.
In response, many Western nations have relaxed sanctions against Burma and begun a process of engagement.
But rights groups have cautioned against a rush to embrace the South East Asian nation, warning that political prisoners remain behind bars and ethnic conflicts are unresolved.
In recent months, bitter communal violence between Muslim Rohingyas and Buddhist Rakhine people in Rakhine state has left more than 100,000 people – mostly Muslim Rohingyas – displaced.
A recent prisoner amnesty reportedly included no political prisoners. The Burmese government has since announced another one which, say activists, does include some political detainees.
After visiting Burma, Mr Obama will head to Cambodia to join a meeting of the Association of South East Asian Nations, in a trip that underlines the shift in US foreign policy focus to the Asia-Pacific region.
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