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YANGON: The ASEAN-UN International Pledging Conference in Yangon ended on Sunday, and Singapore's Foreign Minister George Yeo said the conference was better than he had expected.
The military government had drawn fire after the May 2 disaster for doing too little to open up to foreign aid workers and disseminating relief goods to victims.
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"We must avoid politicising the aid that we give. Distrust between foreign countries and international agencies, and the Myanmar government has contributed sadly to the misery of the victims of this natural disaster," Mr Yeo said at the conference.
"Let this conference concentrate on helping the Myanmar people in the aftermath of the cyclone," he added.
Norway's Deputy Minister for International Development, Hakon Gulbrandsen, agreed: "It is important now that relief workers can have access to the territories affected. For our part, we have raised our pouch from approximately US$10 million to US$20 million.
"Pre-requisite is that aid workers get access to affected areas. And we will channel our funding through the United Nations, through the national and international NGOs."
The Singapore government has pledged an additional US$5 million to an assistance fund and will continue to deploy medical teams, logistics support, heavy lift helicopters and water purification units to help in the reconstruction of cyclone affected areas, according to Singapore's ambassador to Myanmar, Robert Chua.
Summing up the outcome of this significant international pledging conference, Mr Yeo said: "It is better than I expected. Last night, when the ASEAN foreign ministers met, the Myanmar side agreed to open the entire proceedings to international press coverage. So everyone could speak freely in front of everybody else, in full confidence that the world would know.
"And the presence of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon made a big difference. It elevated the profile of the whole conference," he added.
"The key is to build more trust between the UN, international organisations and Myanmar. And this is where ASEAN can play a decisive, critical role - not what we can do in helping the Myanmar people, but in facilitating the interaction between Myanmar and the world."
Having the ASEAN-UN International Pledging Conference in Yangon is a significant step forward for the Myanmar authorities.
However, key issues remain. Donor countries are expecting to have their humanitarian teams and relief efforts to have unhindered access to the Irrawady Delta regions, where help is most needed. They are also calling for monitoring to ensure transparency. - CNA/de/ac
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