Suu Kyi warns against 'reckless optimism' on Burma reforms
Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has warned against ''reckless optimism'' over reforms in the country.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Bangkok, she said the process was not yet irreversible.
The parliament of which she recently became a member was still far from democratic, she added.
She also called on investors to meet the country's needs, saying that job creation and training was vital for Burma's young population.
She added that when investment comes into the country, then it should not fuel corruption or inequality.
''I am here not to tell you what to do but to tell you what we need,'' she said in her first major speech outside Burma for more than 20 years.
She urged investors who are planning to put money into Burma to do so with an awareness of the need for improvement in the lives of ordinary Burmese people.
''Please think deeply for us,'' she said.
Burma's military-backed civilian government has started a series of reforms to open up the country.
Ms Suu Kyi said Burma didn't want investment to mean further corruption and greater inequality.
''We want it to mean jobs,'' she added.
She said that skills training would be a key factor in enabling Burma's workers to fill any of the new jobs that are created.
''There is a great need for basic skills,'' she said. ''We need vocational training much more than higher education.''
While she said that she valued the latter, she added that the international community should consider the country's needs ''in a very practical way''.
Burma is committed to reforms, she said, and would like to be ''linked to a regional and global commitment to share growth''.
''We want to be part of that more prosperous, peaceful world,'' she said.
Since arriving in the Thai capital on Tuesday, she has met Burmese migrants in the Samut Sakhon province - who gave her a rousing welcome - as well as dignitaries including Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.
For the past two decades, Aung San Suu Kyi has either been under house arrest or was afraid that if she left Burma she would not be allowed to go back.
But recent reforms led to her election to parliament last month and she is playing an increasingly prominent role both inside and outside Burma.
The pro-democracy leader was given a passport in early May.
After her trip to Thailand she plans to return to Burma before travelling to Europe later this month.
She intends to go to Norway to formally accept the Nobel Peace Prize that she won in 1991, and will also visit the UK where she has family. She has also accepted an invitation to address the British parliament on 21 June.
It has also been reported that she will go to Geneva, Paris and Ireland.