Google's Eric Schmidt makes rare visit to Myanmar

Eric Schmidt is making a visit to Myanmar, one of the world's largest untapped tech markets.

HONG KONG (CNNMoney) Google Chairman Eric Schmidt advocated for a free and open Internet Friday during a rare visit by a top-level American executive to Myanmar, a former pariah state that is among the world's least wired.

The country, emerging from decades of military rule and harsh international sanctions, is one of the world's largest untapped markets for tech companies. Internet access is extremely rare, and only a tiny sliver of the country's 50 million residents have access to cell phones.

The trip, part of a longer swing through Asia, comes just two months after Schmidt made a controversial journey to North Korea over the objections of the U.S. State Department.

While in the Myanmar, also known as Burma, Schmidt visited a technology park in Yangon, the country's most populous city.

Schmidt has in the past written at length about the Internet's ability to empower citizens oppressed by autocratic governments, and is now producing a book on the subject. He returned to the theme Friday during a question-and-answer session, saying that "something extraordinary is going to happen in Myanmar."

"By far the best formula

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