BANGKOK, May 22 (Xinhua) -- International community will be confident to pledge for funding relief for cyclone-hit Myanmar based on "verified" assessment of damages and losses by competent and neutral agencies, said ASEAN secretary-general Surin Pitsuwan in Bangkok Thursday.

    "There is still a discrepancy between international agencies and what we have heard from Myanmar government," said Surin, citing the wide gap between initial casualty figures given by international agencies immediately after the Cyclone hit Myanmar on May 3 and those by Myanmar authorities, though the numbers seems to be merging now.

    The discrepancy "represents a problem for the pledging from international community", said Surin.

    Suri said this three days before an International Pledging Conference for Myanmar to be held in its former capital Yangon.

    Surin held a press conference in Bangkok Thursday to spell out ASEAN's new task to coordinate international assistance into the cyclone stricken areas in Myanmar, mainly in the Irrawaddy Delta plus parts of Yangon.

    Surin himself will head a Task Force to work with the UN and a Central Coordinating Body to be established by Myanmar government to implement the ASEAN-led coordinating mechanism on international assistance for Myanmar,

    The tasks were endorsed by foreign ministers of ASEAN countries during an ASEAN special session on May 19 in Singapore.

    Surin said the role of the ASEAN-led mechanism, which comprises the task force, plus technical advisors from competent agencies such as the UN Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and World Bank, has been endorsed and recognized by international community and the highest level of Myanmar government.

    As a starting measure, the other nine ASEAN countries will each send a 30-strong medical team to the affected areas in Myanmar soon to work with the ASEAN Emergency Rapid Assessment Team.

    The task force will attend the International Pledging Conference to be held this Sunday in Yangon, co-organized by ASEANand UN.

    Surin could not give figure regarding how many countries will participate in Sunday's conference, though many countries have received invitations from UN and expressed willingness to help.

    However, he said, the partners must have highest degree of mutual confidence, based on verified objective assessment to make any pledge of assistance.

    Surin also cited the Myanmar government's declaration that the phase of relief and rescue is over by now, saying that claim cannot be verified from sources of international agencies.

    The discrepancy have to be verified and reconciled, otherwise it would create a confidence gap between parties, and he could not deliver his mission, said Surin.

    "My job is to coordinate outpouring of international goodwill, but that goodwill depends very much on the facts and reality that are verifiable."

    "From now on to Sunday, we have to have some form of agreement, so that the coalition of mercy will be able to effectively garner international support and assistance based on figures that are accepted, scrutinized and validated by competent, objective and neutral agencies."