January 17, 2006

EU raises bird flu pledge to US$120 million
 

The European Union will pledge US$120 million to help fight bird flu, US$20 million more than it had initially pledged, the EU health commissioner said Tuesday.

The EU's 25 member states are also expected to pledge another US$120 million in total, Markos Kyprianou, the European Commission's health commissioner told The Associated Press on the sidelines of a two-day international donors' conference in Beijing.

The EU said last week that it would pledge US$100 million at the conference.

Kyprianou said that the recent outbreaks in Turkey have heightened awareness about bird flu and its potential to spread from South-east Asia to Europe.

"I think this (spread) caused more sensitivity and it made the governments realise that this is not the problem of a specific region, it's a problem for the whole world, for the whole community, and no region can feel safe," he said.