United Nations Radio

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says he is encouraged by his discussions with Myanmar's leadership to increase access for aid workers into the cyclone-ravaged country.

After meeting today with Senior General Than Shwe, Mr. Ban announced that the general has agreed to allow international aid workers into the affected areas, regardless of nationality and to speed up the issuance of visas.

The Secretary-General said he has also secured the government's agreement to set up a distribution hub for international aid at Yangon airport and to allow civilian ships and boats to deliver aid.

During a press conference in Yangon the Secretary-General said his tour yesterday of the Ayeyarwady Delta, the area worst-affected by the disaster, had impressed upon him how human beings can lose in an instant everything they have worked for.

"I am humbled--humbled by the scale of this natural disaster, the worst your country has ever experienced, and humbled by the courage and the resilience of the Myanmar people."

Having visited a just-born baby girl and her mother, the Secretary-General, said he wants to give them and all of the 2.4 million people affected by the disaster hope that the world is with them.

Reporting for UN Radio, I'm Bissera Kostova.

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