Chinese Ambassador Yan Ting'ai on Thursday morning on behalf the Chinese government handed a check of 4-million-baht (around 100,000 US dollars) donation to Thai Foreign Minister Surakiat Sathirathai to help the kingdom control bird flu.

"Being a friendly country close to Thailand, China is concerned with the epidemic situation in Thailand and wishes it can soon fully control the situation," Yan told Xinhua after a brief ceremony held at the Thai Foreign Ministry.

The Thai government deeply appreciated the Chinese contribution, Surakiat told Xinhua, noting that the support proved that the two countries' relations was in "an excellent state."

He also thanked the Chinese government for its participation of the regional meeting on bird flu that was initiated by the Thai government and held on January 28 in Bangkok.

He said the foreign ministry would soon transfer the contribution to concerned government agencies so as it could be used to control the epidemic.

Thailand has culled more than 28 million poultries to curb the spread of the epidemic and the Thai poultry industry has suffered import bans from major overseas markets including Japan and the European Union.

Experts expected the disease would cause monthly loss of some 6-8 billion baht (around 142.86-190.48 million dollars) to Thai economy, while the government estimated a minimum economic loss around 30 billion baht (around 714 million dollars).

Several international organizations were currently working together to collect funds for countries reporting bird flu including Thailand, said Surakiat, indicating that China was the first country that gave financial support to the kingdom on the issue.

Until Thursday, China has provided donations to countries affected by the fowl disease including Vietnam, Indonesia, Cambodia and Thailand.

The European Union on Thursday declared an urgent assistance of1 million euros to Vietnam to fight the epidemic.

(Xinhua News Agency February 12, 2004)