New Delhi – Burma's military junta head Senior General Than Shwe today agreed to 'allow all aid workers' to help over 2.5 million victims of Cyclone Nargis in the country's Irrawaddy Delta and Rangoon division.

The announcement was made by the UN Secretary General after his meeting with Than Shwe in Burma's new jungle capital Naypyitaw on Friday.

In a statement read out to Mizzima by a UN information official in Bangkok, the world body chief said, there has been a 'breakthrough' in his efforts to persuade the Burmese generals to allow aid workers into the cyclone affected regions.

"Ban said Burma's Senior General Than Shwe agreed to all aid workers without looking at their nationalities to help the cyclone victims," the UN official said.

Ban also said that he believes the Burmese military chief as the statement was made in front of several senior generals in Naypyitaw.

"Ban also said the General has allowed Yangon [Rangoon] airport to be used as the hub for aid distribution," the official added.

The World Body chief, who made a four-hour trip to the cyclone affected regions in Irrawaddy division on Thursday, met Than Shwe for more than two hours on Friday and persuaded him to allow aid workers into the affected areas.

The world body chief is scheduled to leave the country on Friday evening but will return on Sunday to preside over a pledging conference for cyclone victims, organised by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the United Nations, to be held in Rangoon.