ASIA-PACIFIC 
UN confirms Ban Ki-moon's visit to China
Saturday, 24 May, 2008
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. (Getty)
The United Nations confirmed that its secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, would pay a visit to the earthquake-hit Chinese southwestern province of Sichuan.
"The program (of the visit) is being worked out by the Chinese authorities," UN deputy spokeswoman Marie Okabe told a press briefing.
Hours earlier, the Chinese foreign ministry announced that Ban would tour the small village of Yingxiu, in Sichuan, which was at the epicentre of the May 12 quake and was almost completely flattened.
The announcement of Ban's visit came shortly after China raised the confirmed quake death toll to 55,740, up 4,500 from the day before, with another 24,960 people missing.
Ban will have travelled from one disaster zone to another after spending two days in neighbouring Myanmar, where he pressed the ruling junta to speed up efforts to help victims of the May 2-3 cyclone.
Okabe said Ban would stay in Bangkok overnight and would return to the Myanmar after his stay in China.
Sunday, the UN boss is to co-chair a donors conference with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to raise funds to assist survivors of cyclone Nargis.
Source: AFP/SBS
"The program (of the visit) is being worked out by the Chinese authorities," UN deputy spokeswoman Marie Okabe told a press briefing.
Hours earlier, the Chinese foreign ministry announced that Ban would tour the small village of Yingxiu, in Sichuan, which was at the epicentre of the May 12 quake and was almost completely flattened.
The announcement of Ban's visit came shortly after China raised the confirmed quake death toll to 55,740, up 4,500 from the day before, with another 24,960 people missing.
Ban will have travelled from one disaster zone to another after spending two days in neighbouring Myanmar, where he pressed the ruling junta to speed up efforts to help victims of the May 2-3 cyclone.
Okabe said Ban would stay in Bangkok overnight and would return to the Myanmar after his stay in China.
Sunday, the UN boss is to co-chair a donors conference with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to raise funds to assist survivors of cyclone Nargis.
Source: AFP/SBS
