US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told Myanmar President Thein Sein on Wednesday that the United States would take steps to ease the US ban on imports from the country.

Myanmar's president has voiced rare public criticism of his government, saying rampant corruption, bribery and inefficiency were getting in the way of the country's much-touted reform process. 

A summit between President Xi Jinping and his Myanmese counterpart, Thein Sein, signalled both nations' desire to revive their strategic partnership, which had cooled since the civilian government came to power, according to a Chinese expert on the Southeast Asian nation.