Foreign aid to Myanmar's cyclone victims must have "no strings attached" and the focus is now on reconstruction, Deputy Defense Minister Aye Myint said here Sunday.
"We would warmly welcome any assistance and aid which are provided with genuine goodwill from any country or organization provided that there are no strings attached, or politicization involved," he told a high-level security forum in Singapore that included representatives of donor countries.
01 June 2008: AFP
SINGAPORE--Foreign aid to Myanmar's cyclone victims must have "no strings attached" and the focus is now on reconstruction, Deputy Defense Minister Aye Myint said here Sunday.
"We would warmly welcome any assistance and aid which are provided with genuine goodwill from any country or organization provided that there are no strings attached, or politicization involved," he told a high-level security forum in Singapore that included representatives of donor countries.
He stressed that Myanmar's focus had shifted to reconstruction and repeated the latest official toll of 77,738 dead and 55,917 missing, as well as the estimate of uS$10.67 billion in cyclone damage.
"For those groups who are interested in rehabilitation and reconstruction, we are ready to accept them in accordance with our priorities," Major General Aye Myint said.
He added that "we would consider allowing them (into Myanmar) if they wish to engage in rehabilitation and reconstruction work, township by township."
The Myanmar junta official was speaking at the Shangri-La Dialogue, an annual conference in Singapore of defence ministers, military officials and security experts from Asia, North America and Europe.
Myanmar has asked its Southeast Asian neighbors to coordinate the international cyclone relief effort, but aid workers on the ground have expressed frustration over the regime's handling of the humanitarian crisis.
Singapore, which currently chairs the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) that includes Myanmar, has deplored the slow response of the military regime to the disaster.
"It's regrettable that the Myanmar government has responded in this way. Myanmar's partners in ASEAN have all been deeply concerned by the massive suffering of the victims, which a more rapid international relief operation could have minimized," Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in a keynote address to the security forum on Friday.
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