Asean and UN Chairmen's Summary

Sunday, 25 May 2008

The ASEAN and UN Chairmen of the Myanmar Cyclone Nargis Pledging Conference welcome the presence of 51 countries at today's meeting and the high level of representation despite the short notice. They also salute the strong unity of purpose and the sense of urgency shown at the meeting. There was a universal recognition of the unprecedented magnitude of the disaster for Myanmar, and horror at the enormous loss of life and massive devastation caused by the Cyclone and the tidal surge which accompanied it. The participants extended their deepest condolences to the people of Myanmar and expressed their admiration for the courage and resilience of the survivors and all those trying to help them. ASEAN-UN International Pledging Conference on Cyclone Nargis Yangon, Myanmar 25 May 2008 ASEAN and UN Chairmen’s Summary The ASEAN and UN Chairmen of the Myanmar Cyclone Nargis Pledging Conference welcome the presence of 51 countries at today's meeting and the high level of representation despite the short notice. They also salute the strong unity of purpose and the sense of urgency shown at the meeting. There was a universal recognition of the unprecedented magnitude of the disaster for Myanmar, and horror at the enormous loss of life and massive devastation caused by the Cyclone and the tidal surge which accompanied it. The participants extended their deepest condolences to the people of Myanmar and expressed their admiration for the courage and resilience of the survivors and all those trying to help them. There was unanimous agreement on the need to scale up urgently and very significantly the current relief efforts, to ensure that all those in desperate nee are reached quickly and with adequate lifesaving relief supplies, and that an effective flow of these supplies is maintained for as long as is necessary, through the establishment of the necessary logistical arrangements and an acceleration of the arrival and distribution of vital relief goods. The agreement of the Government of Myanmar to facilitate international relief workers to enter and operate in the country, will undoubtedly contribute to the necessary immediate stepping up of the relief operation. There was also strong agreement that a major extra effort would be needed h m all quarters, national and international, to achieve the immediate objective of preventing further unnecessary deaths. The financial pledges made at the Conference will be vital for this purpose. There was strong support for the decision reached at the Special ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting held on 19 May 2008 in Singapore to establish, an ASEAN-led coordinating mechanism. To realize this, an ASEAN Humanitarian Task Force for the Victims of Cyclone Nargis, composed of senior officials and experts from ASEAN countries, led by the Secretary-General of ASFAN, has been established. There was a warm welcome for the proposed creation of a Yangon-based Tripartite Core Group comprising representatives from the Government of Myanmar, ASEAN and UN as a working mechanism for coordinating, facilitating, and monitoring the flow of international assistance into the country. This p u p would begin its work immediately to ensure full information exchange, close coordination of relief and recovery effort and resolution of any problems which may arise. For the longer term, the Government of Myanmar made clear the scale of the rehabilitation, reconstruction and recovery efforts likely to be needed, and the immediate requirement to ensure that farming and fishing activities could be resumed as soon as possible, not least to ensure that as much rice can be planted as possible in the forthcoming planting season. The international community is ready to consider helping the Government of Myanmar in these and other areas. For these purposes a comprehensive rapid joint assessment of recovery needs, and development of a shared post disaster recovery and reconstruction plan are indispensable steps. This Conference was an important exercise towards building greater trust, confidence and cooperation between the Government of Myanmar and the international community. Finally, the participants in the Conference are united in their determination to help the people of Myanmar and in particular those in the worst affected areas to overcome this dreadful tragedy and resume their normal lives as quickly as possible. This is being carried out with a sense of urgency based our shared humanity. Q & A Reuters: How much total donations cash has come in? John Holmes: I can’t tell you the total exact figure at the moment. I think we’re trying to work that out because it is quite difficult to distinguish between a lot of the aid which has been given already and many countries are explaining how much they’d already given and then to work out what the new pledges are. I’ve had pledges of, I think around at least 30 million dollars extra from the pledges and contributions we’ve had already and I think its important to recognize that the value of the conference went well beyond the immediate financial pledges made because as the statement makes clear, this was an exercise in creating trust and in creating a way to move forward, in creating a joint commitment to move forward from the international community as a whole, from the UN and ASEAN and from the government of Myanmar. I think its also clear that once the conditions of operation of the relief efforts become clearer, and the international relief staff can get in freely and we have a better needs assessment there, then there is a clear readiness on the part of many donors to step up their contributions. It was important to see that readiness there and that’s more important than the immediate sums which are based on the day to day. Nikkei Shimbun: Has the UN been assured that international experts will be granted access to the cyclone affected areas? John Holmes: Yes, we are confident that this will happen, but of course the key is in the implementation. There is a very clear message from the participants in the conference that they want to see the promises made translated into reality. I think as the Secretary General made it clear this morning, the early signs are encouraging, there are international staff, albeit small numbers so far, moving into the affected areas down in the Irrawaddy delta, who were not allowed to go there before, so that’s obviously good news. I think what is clear that the statements of the Secretary General made, the Statement in the Joint Chairmen’s summary, that the Foreign Ministers just read out, are fully endorsed by the Government of Myanmar, that’s clear from the conversations that we have had. Of course we do need to translate this into clear procedures for all concerned to make sure that this can happen in a systematic and orderly way. We’ve every reason to believe that this will happen, but of course, we want to see it happen quickly because what happens on the ground are absolutely key for the future. ENDS