ROUGH CUT NO REPORTER NARRATION<br/> <br />U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon met Myanmar President Thein Sein on Monday to offer international help for reform in the long-isolated state and will later become the first foreign dignitary to address its fledgling parliament.<br/> <br />On his first visit to Myanmar since its year-old, quasi-civilian government embarked on a wave of political and economic liberalisation, Ban described Thein Sein, a former top general, as a "key driver" of the reforms and said he would urge Western powers to ease sanctions further.<br/> <br />The new government, comprising mostly former generals in the military junta that ruled for half a century, has stunned the world with the pace of its reforms in a way that Ban said was impressive but still a work in progress.<br/> <br />Missing from parliament on Monday will be Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and members of her opposition National League for Democracy party, which won April 1 by-elections by a landslide.<br/> <br />Her party has refused to take their seats in protest at a swearing-in oath that requires new parliamentarians to pledge to protect the constitution.<br/> <br />Suu Kyi has vowed to revise the 2008 army-drafted constitution that gives the military wide-ranging powers, including the ability to appoint key cabinet members, take control of the country in a state of emergency and occupy a quarter of the seats in parliament.
