She is the first US secretary of state to visit Burma since John Foster Dulles in 1955, so Hillary Clinton could have been forgiven for thinking she wouldn't have to struggle for the limelight.
But, as she touched down in the capital, Naypyidaw, to an absence of pomp, it became clear that she faced a rival in the unlikely form of the Belarus prime minister, Mikhail Myasnikovich.
While a small delegation led by the deputy foreign minister was sent to greet Clinton, two billboards had been erected to welcome the Belarussian premier, who jets in to Burma on Thursday with his wife.
Reuters reported that, as Clinton arrived at the airport, there were "no crowds, no festivities, no flags and seemingly few preparations aside from some policemen".
And, to add insult to injury, even the media displayed markedly less interest in her historic visit than in the imminent arrival of Myasnikovich, who was appointed by autocratic leader Alexander Lukashenko last year.
While the government's official newspaper, the New Light of Myanmar, devoted its front page to Myasnikovich, Clinton was given only two paragraphs inside.
