The Chinese government Wednesday pledged 10 million U.S. dollars in donations to multinational organizations or some African or Asian countries for the fight against avian influenza, the ministry of finance said in a statement.

On behalf of the Chinese government, Li Yong, Chinese deputy finance minister, made the announcement at the International Pledging Conference on Avian and Human Pandemic Influenza held in Beijing.

The aid packages totaling 10 million U.S. dollars include 2 million U.S. dollars to a newly created fund to control avian flu, and half a million U.S. dollars to the World Health Organization, half a million U.S. dollars to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations for global efforts to control avian flu, and 7 million U.S. dollars to members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and some African countries, the deputy minister said.

Addressing the Ministerial Session of the International Pledging Conference on Avian and Human Pandemic Influenza, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said the 10 million U.S. dollars in aid will be delivered very soon.

Li said China, as a responsible big developing country, has been committed to its own fight against the epidemic while paying close attention to the global efforts to fight avian flu.

The ministry said it had allocated 827 million yuan (about 100 million U.S. dollars) in funding for the country's efforts to prevent and control avian flu since January of 2005, which includes programs to monitor, compensation for culling birds threatened by avian flu, and development of avian flu vaccines and training.

Source: Xinhua