Brussels - The European Union's top aid official on Thursday
pressed authorities in Myanmar to grant visas and freedom of movement
to aid workers, officials in Brussels said.
EU aid commissioner Louis Michel held a 'positive first meeting'
with Myanmar's minister of social welfare at which he asked the
Myanmar government to grant 30-day visas to aid experts from the
European Commission and six-month multiple-entry visas to workers
from European aid agencies, Michel's spokesman said.
He also urged the Myanmar authorities to allow foreign and local
aid workers to move about freely in the country and to open the
Pathein military air base to emergency traffic, the spokesman said.
Following the devastation caused by Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar and
reports that authorities were blocking access to aid workers, Michel
announced on Monday that he would personally fly to the stricken
country to urge the government to open its borders.
He left Brussels on Tuesday evening, barely hours after the
Myanmar regime granted him a fast-track visa.
On arrival, he held meetings with EU ambassadors to Myanmar and
with representatives of international aid organizations, and visited
a small refugee camp 40 kilometres from Yangon, his spokesman said.
He also requested meetings with Myanmar's prime minister and
foreign minister, and asked permission to visit the storm-battered
Irrawaddy delta, all on Friday.
The requests 'are being examined' by the authorities, but no
decision has yet been made, Michel's spokesman said.
Relations between the EU and Myanmar are strained by the former's
condemnation of, and sanctions against, the latter's military regime.
Michel has repeatedly stressed that his visit is purely
humanitarian and has no political sub-text.
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