Brussels, 18/01/2006 (Agence Europe) - During closure of the Beijing Donors' Conference, on 18 January, Commissioner Markos Kyprianou noted that the pledges made by countries and organisations present to combat avian influenza had reached $1.9 billion. He was very pleased with this result that will allow effective aid to be provided for the countries of Asia, Africa and Eastern Europe, already affected by avian flu or where there is a high risk of outbreak in the next two to three years. The conference managed to exceed the $1.5 billion target it had set, in the knowledge that the sum of 1.2 billion is generally considered indispensable for helping the hardest hit countries of Asia and Eastern Europe. The results of the conference were welcomed on behalf of the 25 EU Member States and the European Commission by the Austrian health minister, Maria Rauch-Kallat, who stressed that the EU and its Member Sates have contributed up to around EUR 200 million. In addition to financial support, she urged for a long-term partnership between the EU and the countries that are affected by the epizootic.