By Xinhua,
Yangon : British Foreign Office Minister Lord Malloch Brown and Japanese Deputy Foreign Minister Hitoshi Kimura are currently in Yangon to look into the status of Myanmar’s relief and resettlement works in the aftermath of the cyclone disaster, the state-run newspaper New Light of Myanmar reported Monday.
Both of the two high-ranking foreign officials, who arrived in the biggest city of Myanmar on Sunday, met with Myanmar Minister of National Planning and Economic Development U Soe Tha, Minister of Health Dr. Kyaw Myint and Deputy Foreign Minister U Kyaw Thu separately shortly after their arrival.
The discussions with the British side covered British relief aid being provided and be rendered in Myanmar’s reconstruction period, the report said, adding that the British government is ready to participate in the ASEAN-led international drive in rehabilitation regions hard hit by the storm, hoping that the humanitarian aid extended by the British government can lead to further fostering relations between the two nations.
The Myanmar side also expressed wishes to cooperate with members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the United Nations in its post-storm rehabilitation move.
According to the report, the discussions between Japan and Myanmar covered Japan’s current relief aid program for Myanmar victims and future plans, including a proposal by the Japanese side for sending an emergency medical team to Myanmar.
The report also disclosed that, organized by the Myanmar Health Ministry, the Thai medics and Mekong heath care team, which arrived Yangon last Saturday, are now carrying out relief work for storm victims in Laputta and Myaungmya townships in the country’s southwestern Ayeyawaddy division, which was hard hit by the disaster.
Meanwhile, UN Under Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes also arrived in Yangon on Sunday to coordinate with Myanmar for relief efforts.
A deadly tropical cyclone Nargis, which occurred over the Bay of Bengal, hit five divisions and states — Ayeyawaddy, Yangon, Bago, Mon and Kayin on May 2 and 3, of which Ayeyawaddy and Yangon inflicted the heaviest casualties and infrastructural damage.
According to an updated official death toll, as many as 77,738 people were killed with 55,917 still missing, totaling 133,655, in the disaster. The number of the injured went up to 19,359.