Suu Kyi backs embrace of Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi address both houses of parliament Aung San Suu Kyi has welcomed the government's invitation to Thein Sein, president of Myanmar, to visit Britain as she continued her own historic tour. Ahead of her address to both houses of parliament at Westminster Hall on Thursday - the first by a woman and a non-head of state - the leader of the Myanmar opposition and former political prisoner told a press conference in Downing Street that she agreed with David Cameron's decision. Despite her long opposition to Myanmar's 49-year military dictatorship, Ms Suu Kyi said: "We don't want to be shackled by the past. We want to use the past to build up the future. After meeting the prime minister to discuss Britain's continuing support for Myanmar, including a new aid package worth £3m, Ms Suu Kyi was whisked by motorcade to address MPs and peers in Westminster Hall. She urged the UK to continue its support for her country, telling the audience: "I am here in part to ask for practical help: help as a friend and an equal, in support of the reforms which can bring better lives [and] greater opportunities to the people of Burma [Myanmar] who have been for so long deprived of their rights and their place in the world." She said the current transition from military rule to democracy, with elections scheduled for 2015, represented Myanmar's toughest challenge yet. My country today stands at the start of a journey towards, I hope, a better future. So many hills remain to be climbed, chasms to be bridged, obstacles to be breached," she said. Though she has been feted in Oxford, London and Dublin, the first stops on her foreign tour, Ms Suu Kyi's political power remains limited. Her party currently holds fewer than 5 per cent of seats in parliament, but hopes to make big gains in 2015, at which point Mr Thein Sein will step down, according to an aide. There had been some debate among peers about whether to allow Ms Suu Kyi to address the joint gathering of both houses of parliament in Westminster Hall - an honour usually reserved for heads of state. She acknowledged the controversy, joking that such debate was exactly what she was trying to bring about in Myanmar. The speech was the climax of an emotional return to the UK for Ms Suu Kyi, who left her home in Oxford for Yangon in 1988 to care for her mother. After becoming involved in Myanmar's resurgent opposition movement, she was held under house arrest by the military authorities - a confinement that lasted in various forms until her release in November 2010. She returned to her former home city of Oxford on Wednesday, where she was awarded an honorary doctorate. Thursday's occasion was not purely ceremonial however. As well as helping secure the new aid package, Ms Suu Kyi encouraged British businesses to make what she called "democracy-friendly investment," which would not stoke corruption, bolster the dictatorship or damage the environment. Nor was the visit entirely joyous, with Ms Suu Kyi speaking with sadness about the sectarian violence between Buddhist Rakhine and minority Muslim Rohingya people.