Sittwe, Myanmar: Myanmar was to engage in talks for the first time on Thursday on the migrant exodus from its shores, with US and South-east Asian envoys hoping to build on a breakthrough in an impasse which has left thousands stranded at sea.

Foreign ministers Anifah Aman of Malaysia and Retno Marsudi of Indonesia were to visit Naypyidaw a day after announcing their countries would end a much-condemned policy of turning away boatloads of starving migrants.

US Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken was also to meet with Myanmar officials, as the United States said it stood ready to admit some of the migrants.

Blinken said he would raise the Myanmar government's discriminatory treatment of its Rohingya minority in the western state of Rakhine, which is widely blamed for fuelling the crisis.