Burma's top ruling military supremo, Sen. Gen. Than Shwe, during the meeting on Friday with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, agreed to allow "all aid workers regardless of nationality" for relief efforts to help cyclone victims in Burma.

The two leaders met at a modern complex in the junta's purpose-built capital of Naypyidaw in central Myanmar; Ban is the most senior foreign leader ever to visit the new capital.

During a photo opportunity at the start of the meeting, Than Shwe remained impassive as he stood in a shirt covered in medals and military decorations. At the start of the meeting, the 75-year-old Senior General's stony-faced silence gave no clues as to whether he would overcome deep suspicions of the outside world and grant the U.N. chief his request.

Their meeting lasted two hours and 15 minutes. Delegations for both men attended the first part of the talks, but the last 45 minutes of discussions involved only the leaders, Ban's chief of staff Vijay Nambiar, and four Myanmar generals.

After meeting with the senior general, Ban told reporters: "He has agreed to allow all aid workers regardless of nationalities."

Asked if the agreement marked a breakthrough, Ban said: "I think so."

"I had a very good meeting with the senior general and particularly on these aid workers," he said. "He's taken quite a flexible position on this matter."

"I urged him that it would be crucially important for him to allow aid workers as swiftly as possible and all these aid relief items also be delivered to the needy people as soon as possible," Ban said.

Than Shwe also agreed to allow Yangon airport to be used as an international hub for aid distribution, Ban said.

A senior U.N. official present at the meeting said Than Shwe also gave the green light for foreigners to work in the hardest-hit region, the Irrawaddy delta, which has so far been virtually off-limits to them.

An official, who requested anonymity for reasons of protocol, said although the regime has been granting an increasing number of visas for foreign aid workers to enter the country, government authorities had earlier not been able to give this assurance of access to the Irrawaddy delta because they needed a "green light from the top."

"Ban saw no reason why that should not happen, as long as they are genuine humanitarian workers and it was clear as to what they were going to be doing," said the official, "We've got to turn that into reality now."

France-based Doctors Without Borders said it now had some foreign staffers working in four areas of the hard-hit Irrawaddy delta, which had previously been virtually off limits to non-Myanmar relief workers.

"This is a significant step forward, and could be a turning point in the aid response," said Brian Agland, who heads the U.S.-based aid group CARE in Myanmar. "We welcome the agreement that has been reached between the U.N. secretary-general and government authorities in Myanmar that will facilitate the immediate entry of emergency response experts."

World Vision, one of the few charities operating in Yangon, said any concessions from the junta were welcome, however small.

"Any positive noises are better than nothing," spokesman James East said in the Thai capital, Bangkok. "We are cautiously optimistic. The critical thing is access to the delta."

Ban arrived at the remote capital of Naypyitaw earlier Friday after a flight from Yangon, 250 miles to the south. He witnessed some of the cyclone's devastation during a carefully choreographed tour Thursday. "I'm very upset by what I've seen," Ban told reporters after a walk through a makeshift relief camp where 500 people huddled in blue tents at Kyondah village in Dedaye township, about 45 miles southwest of Yangon, Myanmar's largest city.

As Ban's visit proceeded, the regime appeared to ease some of its restrictions on foreigners. The regime had earlier allowed the U.N. agency to bring in 10 helicopters to fly emergency aid to stranded victims.

The government has allowed planes to land from several countries carrying emergency supplies, including some from the United States, its fiercest critic. The regime has allowed in 40 aid flights by U.S. military C-130 cargo planes, including four Wednesday.

A second French cargo plane loaded with 40 tons of relief supplies was due to land Friday in Yangon, while Canada said it would lend its biggest military aircraft, a C-17 cargo lifter, to deliver U.N. World Food Program helicopters to Myanmar.

Ban will attend a joint U.N. and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) donor-pledging conference in Yangon on Sunday.

However, ASEAN Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan said "the amount of money committed by donor countries depends on the level of confidence, which will require those factors ¡½ accessibility, participation, and verifiability."

Ban's visit was the talk of Yangon for people desperate for international help, but people accepted his visit would not stray from its humanitarian mission.

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