The British foreign secretary held talks with the Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Friday, expressing hope that she and her party can help move the Southeast Asian country further along the road to democracy.

"This is an exciting time, because now there is the chance that what she and her colleagues have hoped and longed for for so long will actually take place in this country - that progress toward democracy will continue to be made," William Hague, the first British foreign secretary to visit Myanmar in more than 50 years, said at a news conference after meeting with Suu Kyi and other members of the National League for Democracy at her lakeside house in Yangon.

Myanmar has been ruled by a military junta since 1962, and the generals have started to loosen their grip on the country after coming under criticism for their human rights record in recent years. Thein Sein, a former military official and prime minister, became president last year as a result of an election criticized by democracy activists as a sham.