BURMA'S opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has met the country's new civilian President for the first time, in the latest sign the regime is reaching out to its opponents.

The talks with Mr Thein Sein last night marked a rare encounter between the Nobel laureate and one of the former generals who kept her detained for much of the past two decades.

The meeting took place at the presidential office in the Burmese capital, Naypyidaw, a government official said.

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"It's an important step for national reconciliation. We should all work together," Ko Ko Hlaing, chief political adviser to the President, said.

In March, a new civilian government took power, led by Mr Thein Sein, a former general and junta prime minister, after nearly 50 years of military rule.

Ms Suu Kyi, who is 66, was released from house arrest soon after the November election that was won by the military's political proxies and marred by complaints of cheating.

The National League for Democracy, which won a 1990 vote, but was not allowed to take power by the junta, boycotted the poll because of rules designed to exclude Ms Suu Kyi. It was stripped of its status as a political party as a result.

Recently there have been signs the new government is softening its stance towards its critics, with Ms Suu Kyi holding a second round of talks this month with Labour Minister Aung Kyi.

On Sunday, Ms Suu Kyi travelled unhindered on her first overtly political trip outside her home city of Rangoon since being released from detention, addressing thousands of supporters.

The authorities warned her in June that such a tour could spark chaos and riots, but the one-day excursion passed off peacefully and without incident.

The new government has called for peace talks with ethnic rebels and is allowing UN envoy Tomas Ojea Quintana to visit Burma next week for the first time in more than a year.

The UN envoy has been a vocal critic of Burma's rulers, enraging the junta after his last trip by suggesting human rights violations in the country might amount to crimes against humanity, and could warrant an inquiry by the UN.

David Mathieson, a Thailand-based researcher on Burma with the US-based Human Rights Watch, said it was impossible to say whether the recent conciliatory gestures by the government were "complete theatre" or "a real moment of change".

"We simply don't know the inner workings of the new government, but in terms of basic freedoms and whether the human rights situation is improving, definitely not at all," Mr Mathieson said.

The international community has called for a number of reforms in Burma, including the release of about 2000 political prisoners.

In a further sign the new government is seeking to improve its image, Burma's state newspapers this week dropped slogans lambasting foreign media such as the BBC for "killer broadcasts" and "sowing hatred".

Burma's generals moved their government from the economic hub of Rangoon to the current remote location in late 2005, after building the new administrative capital there.