Yangon, 9 June 2008

Chairman of the ASEAN-Myanmar-UN Tripartite Core Group (TCG), Deputy Foreign Minister of Myanmar, Kyaw Thu, sent off 250 members of the joint assessment teams in a launch ceremony held today in Yangon. The mixed teams of personnel from ASEAN Member States, Myanmar Government, the UN, international and local NGOs, Myanmar Red Cross and volunteers as well as experts from the Asian Development Bank and World Bank, who are supporting ASEAN for this exercise, will begin a two-week long assessment of the Cyclone Nargis-affected areas in the Delta.

More than 300 people including members of the TCG, representatives from Government line Ministries and local media attended the launch. The Government confirmed their commitment to provide the teams with 70 mobile phones, 25 vehicles and 20 boats for the assessment. The use of six World Food Programme (WFP) helicopters has also been granted to support the assessment while continuing the urgent relief efforts.

Mr Kyaw Thu stressed the importance of the assessment to expedite the relief and resettlement for the survivors. He expressed his full confidence in the close cooperation among the personnel from ASEAN, the UN and the Myanmar Government in this urgent and critical joint assessment mission.

He sent off the teams with message that the assessment should not be considered as a political issue; the teams should not add to the burden of the Cyclone Nargis survivors; and any accident and incident should be avoided. He also advised the Myanmar personnel to demonstrate the Burmese virtue of care and kindness, and that all team members should take care of their health throughout the assessment mission. “We are all doing our best in a very difficult situation and a very difficult terrain. So please remember these five points that I mentioned”, he said.