Burmese leader Thein Sein has said he would accept democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi as president if elected, but added he could not alone amend rules that bar her from power.
The former general has paid rare tributes to Burma's Nobel laureate during a landmark tour of the US where he has burnished his reformist credentials by insisting that his country will continue its strides towards democracy after decades of army rule.
The Burmese leader, whose meeting with Suu Kyi in New York marked the latest sign of warm relations between the nation's leader and its most famous former political prisoner, told the BBC that there were 'no problems' between them.
'If the people accept her, I will have to accept her. As I said before, we are now working together,' he told the BBC in an interview aired on Saturday.
But he said he could not act alone to remove the barriers impeding the democracy champion's route to the presidency, as the country heads towards crucial 2015 elections.
Burma's constitution prohibits those with close foreign relatives from holding high office and Suu Kyi, who married a British academic, has two sons living in the West.
'I alone cannot change the constitution. This depends on the wish of the people and also the wishes of the members of parliament,' Thein Sein said.
The leader has won international plaudits - and the suspension or lifting of most Western sanctions - for the fast pace of change in Burma since he took the helm of a quasi-civilian regime last year.
Hundreds of political prisoners have been freed and Suu Kyi - herself locked up for a total of 15 years - has now entered parliament after her National League for Democracy won key by-elections in April.
Thein Sein, who was a senior figure in the previous junta, has met Suu Kyi on several occasions amid efforts to steer the long-isolated country towards democracy and economic prosperity.
In his address to the UN this week, the Burmese leader went further than ever in his praise of the veteran activist, whose struggle for change in her impoverished homeland has earned her deep affection both at home and abroad.
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