AFP Photo
Clad in
traditional clothing, (L-R) Thai
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra,
Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah
Ahmad Badawi, Taiwan Senior Advisor
Lub Hsin-i, Japanese Prime Minister
Junichiro Koizumi, Singapore Prime
Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Indonesian
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
and Russian President Vladimir Putin,
pose during a photo session of the
two-day Asia-Pacific Economic
Cooperation (APEC) meeting in Pusan,
South Korea. Asia-Pacific leaders
have announced new measures to fight
bird flu as Australia pledged more
than 70 million dollars to help
prepare the region for a possible
pandemic.
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BUSAN, South Korea (AFP) -
Asia-Pacific leaders have announced new measures to fight bird
flu as Australia pledged more than 70 million dollars to help
prepare the region for a possible pandemic.
"We agreed on collective practical measures, including:
strengthening cooperation and technical assistance among APEC
economies to limit influenza at its source and prevent human
outbreaks," the leaders said in a statement Saturday.
The 21 members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)
forum pledged to test if the region was ready to cope with a flu
pandemic and to fund experts to help countries respond more
rapidly should one erupt.
This would begin with "a desk-top simulation exercise in early
2006 to test regional responses and communication networks,"
read the statement published at the APEC summit in the South
Korean port of Busan.
The leaders also agreed to
"enhancing information on border screening procedures and
controls to increase transparency and to reduce risk to trade
and travelers".
The H5N1 strain of bird flu has killed more than 60 people and
led to the slaughter of millions of poultry since late 2003 in
APEC countries including Indonesia and China, which have
reported new fatalities in the past week.
Health experts fear the virus could
mutate into a form that can be easily transmitted between humans
and could rapidly spiral out of control and kill millions of
people.
Australia announced a 70-million-dollar package to combat the
virus and other diseases at the two-day summit with 90 percent
of the money to go towards bilateral assistance to the worst-hit
countries. |
"Australia will provide 100 million dollars
(73.3 million US dollars) over four years for initiatives to combat the
threat of pandemics and other emerging infectious diseases within the
region," Prime Minister John Howard said in a statement.
The remaining seven million dollars will go
towards the measures outlined in APEC's Initiative on Preparing for and
mitigating an Influenza Pandemic.
The agreement commits APEC members "to effective surveillance,
transparency and openness, and close domestic regional and international
coordination and collaboration," the leaders said in their written
statement.
"We also committed to multi-sectoral preparedness planning, timely data
and sample sharing, science-based decision-making regarding trade and
travel," it said.
Howard on Friday warned Asian nations not to cover up any outbreaks of
bird flu, saying early and honest reporting would be key to preventing a
pandemic.
In a veiled reference to Asian states such as China and Vietnam, Howard
told APEC delegates that several countries had hidden the extent of bird
flu outbreaks in 2003.
As well as taking steps to prepare for a possible pandemic, Howard
stressed the "importance of putting aside any sense of national pride or
self-consciousness about any outbreak in individual countries."
The United Nations' health and agriculture organizations last year
criticized several Asian nations including China, Indonesia, Thailand
and Vietnam for being slow to report outbreaks of bird flu.
Chinese authorities Friday had locked down the village in eastern Anhui
province where a 24-year-old pregnant woman died of bird flu last week,
becoming the nation's first confirmed human fatality from the virus.
Indonesia confirmed two more deaths on Thursday.
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