* State oil/gas firm "lacks transparency, accountability" 
 
 * Suu Kyi taken ill at press conference 
 
 * First visit to Europe in nearly quarter century 
 
 By Stephanie Nebehay and Tom Miles 
 
 BERN/GENEVA, June 14 (Reuters) - Myanmar's Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi on Thursday urged foreign governments not to let their companies form joint ventures with her country's state-owned oil and gas company until it improved its business practices. 
 
 Suu Kyi spoke on the first full day of her first visit to Europe in nearly a quarter of a century - a trip that was disrupted when she briefly fell ill at a press conference in the Swiss capital Bern. 
 
 The 66-year-old, who spent two decades under house arrest before being elected to parliament in April, halted the event after vomiting and excusing herself saying "I'm so sorry". 
 
 An official Swiss dinner in her honour was cancelled although she did attend a cocktail reception later, Swiss foreign ministry spokesman Jean-Marc Crevoisier said. "She is tired and has gone to her hotel to rest," he told Reuters. 
 
 Suu Kyi, who minutes before complained of jet lag and tiredness, arrived in Geneva late on Wednesday at the start of her 17-day trip to Europe which will include stops in Norway, Britain, Ireland and France. 
 
 In Bern, Swiss foreign minister Didier Burkhalter said Switzerland was partially lifting sanctions against Myanmar except for an embargo on military weapons that could be used for the "purpose of repression". 
 
 Earlier in Geneva, she received a standing ovation at the International Labour Organization (ILO), whose director-general Juan Somavia praised her "remarkable courage and determination". 
 
 "The Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise ... with which all foreign participation in the energy sector takes place through joint venture arrangements, lacks both transparency and accountability at present," she said in a speech to the ILO's annual conference. 
 
 "The (Myanmar) government needs to apply internationally recognised standards such as the IMF code of good practices on fiscal transparency. Other countries could help by not allowing their own companies to partner MOGE unless it was signed up to such codes," she said. 
 
 Responsible investment was the key to helping her resource-rich country along the path to democracy after nearly 50 years of military rule, she said. 
 
 The hugely popular leader of Myanmar's opposition had been fearful until now that if she left Myanmar, the junta whose rule she fought against for two decades would block her return. 
 
 But after months of cautious rapprochement with Thein Sein, a former general who convinced her to run in by-elections, she accepted an offer to go to Thailand to attend the World Economic Forum on East Asia two weeks ago in one of the clearest signs yet of her confidence in Myanmar's reforms. 
 
 LACK OF TRANSPARENCY IN CONTRACTS 
 
 Myanmar has granted Chinese state-owned oil firm CNPC oil and gas pipeline concessions that will enable Middle East energy supplies to a take short-cut on the route to China, cutting out the extra expense and journey time of using the Malacca Strait. 
 
 "Quite frankly none of us know what's in those contracts, this is what I mean by lack of transparency in the country," Suu Kyi told a news conference. "Lack of transparency leads to all kinds of suspicions that shore up trouble for the future." 
 
 Asked about Chevron and Total, the big Western oil firms with investments in Myanmar, she said: "I have to say that I find that Total is a responsible investor in the country, even though there was a time when we did not think they should be encouraging the military regime by investing in Burma. 
 
 "They were sensitive to human rights and environmental issues and now that we've come to a point in time when we would like investors who are sensitive to such issues, I am certainly not going to persuade Chevron or Total to pull out." 
 
 A day after the ILO, a United Nations agency, lifted its more than decade-old restrictions on Myanmar in recognition of progress including a new law on trade unions and pledge to end forced labour, Suu Kyi said foreign direct investment that created jobs should be welcomed. 
 
 As sanctions are lifted, investment should be responsible and help the process of democratisation, she said. 
 
 "Burma is a land with a lot of energy resources. We do not want to dissipate it. I would like to see a sound effective energy policy in Burma and this should be related to the kind of extractive investments that we invite in." ||||| The move comes after 18 months in which Burma’s military junta, which has ruled the country with an iron fist for 50 years, have introduced a swathe of democratic reforms. 
 
 A final decision on whether sanctions will be suspended will be taken at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg on Monday. 
 
 “There is now agreement in principle” to “a suspension of all sanctions, except for the arms embargo,” a diplomat close to the talks, who asked not to be identified, told the AFP news agency. 
 
 Under the plan, travel bans and asset freezes on regime officials would be lifted. Foreign investment in the country’s rich oil and gas resources as well as in its traditional logging industry would be permitted. 
 
 Development and aid money would be allowed into a country that struggles with grinding poverty. 
 
 There have been recent splits within the EU over when to remove sanctions on Burma following the actions of the military-backed government President Thein Sein in moving towards democracy since November 2010. 
 
 Germany has urged a swift end to sanctions but Britain has previously been keen to maintain leverage in the still army-dominated country. 
 
 However, in a press conference last week, Prime Minister David Cameron and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi urged the suspension of all EU measures – though not the scrapping of the sanctions. 
 
 Ms Suu Kyi’s endorsement of the suspension was seen as crucial. 
 
 The 12-month suspension period “gives us time to assess the sustainability of reform”, a diplomat said. The ministers are expected to also agree to include the possibility of reviewing the decision in six months. 
 
 Western nations eager to reward sweeping reforms that culminated in Ms Suu Kyi’s election to parliament in April 1 by-elections, have already made some reciprocal gestures to encourage Burma’s government. 
 
 Once in place, the suspension opens up what many investors see as the next big frontier to European firms.
– Aung San Suu Kyi visited the UN's European headquarters in Geneva today, and amidst pleasantries, made a serious call for the world to boycott Burma's state-run oil and gas companies. "The Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise … lacks both transparency and accountability at present," she said, speaking before the UN's International Labor Organization. Burma currently has contracts with several foreign firms, including Chevron, Total, and China's CNPC. "Quite frankly, none of us know what's in those contracts," Suu Kyi said, according to Reuters. Suu Kyi did, however, allow that, despite having struck a deal with the junta, Total "is a responsible investor in the country" and was "sensitive to human rights and environmental issues." She also called for a "democracy-friendly development policy" coupled with various business reforms. "No country can claim genuine development until all its peoples can enjoy the basic freedoms. Freedom from want, and freedom from fear," she said, according to this video. The visit is part of Suu Kyi's first trip to Europe in decades.