The head of Myanmar’s military government arrived in Thailand in a rare international trip as his country recovers from a devastating earthquake that killed thousands.

BANGKOK (AP) — The head of Myanmar’s military government arrived in Thailand on Thursday for a regional summit, making a rare international trip as his country recovers from a devastating earthquake that killed thousands.

Senior General Min Aung Hlaing has been shunned by much of the West for overthrowing the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi and subsequent brutal repression. He has not been allowed to participate in meetings of another regional organization, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, since the army seized of power in February 2021 and began violently suppressing opposition.

He is one of several regional leaders visiting Bangkok for a three-day summit of nations in the Bay of Bengal region.

It was Min Aung Hlaing’s first to a country other than his government’s main supporters and backers — China, Russia and Russian ally Belarus — since he attended a regional meeting in Indonesia in 2021.

He was greeted upon arrival at the airport by Thai Labor Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn and later attended an official dinner for leaders of the seven-member Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation, or BIMSTEC, which includes Thailand, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka.