CRI听力：China Joins International Efforts to Help Myanmar

Anchor: The Chinese government has decided to provide another 10 million US dollars in emergency aid to Myanmar. More than 50 countries have also sworn to help the country recover from Cyclone Nargis, which has killed nearly 80,000 people. CRI's Liao Jibo has more.

Report: Chinese Foreign Minsiter Yang Jiechi made the pledge at the ASEAN-UN international pledging conference in Yangon.

The ten million dollars of aid comes in addition to the more than 5 million dollars emergency aid China had pledged earlier in the month.

The Chinese foreign minister also called on the international community to extend more support to Myanmar's victims.

"The pressing task now is to help Myanmar with relief and reconstruction. The international community should fully respect Myanmar's wish and continue to offer assistance. In the light of needs, we should assistant Myanmar in meeting basic needs of disaster victims."

Yang Jiechi said China feels Myanmar's pain since China too is grappling with rescue and relief efforts after the May 12 earthquake in Sichuan.

He also conveyed China's deepest sympathies to those affected by the cyclone storm in Myanmar.

Yang Jiechi stressed that humanitarian undertakings should not be politicized.

The International Pledging Conference was set up by the United Nations and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. It aimed to garner more monetary aid for Myanmar's cyclone relief and rehabilitation efforts.

Donor nations have pledged more than 100 million US dollars for the disaster relief.

The nations have also reached a unanimous agreement to consider helping Myanmar government in medium and longer terms.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also attended the conference.

"Apart from the tens of millions of dollars pledged by member states, it was an important exercise towards building greater trust, confidence and cooperation between the government of Myanmar and the international community."

At the conference, Myanmar Prime Minister General Thein Sein expressed gratitude for the international aid and assistance, reiterating that the country welcomes foreign aid workers. (www.hxen.net)

He urged aid supplies be delivered by civil vessels to Yangon Port.

He estimated the damage and loss caused by the storm had surpassed 10 billion US dollars with more than 5 million people affected.