Berlin  - Access to victims of Cyclone Nargis has been improving since Myanmar's rulers agreed to let foreign relief workers into the disaster area, a senior German official said Saturday in Berlin.

Gernot Erler, state minister at the Foreign Ministry, said the first tests of the new policy had been positive in outcome, but it would be a long path before there was complete freedom of movement.

He was speaking in Berlin before departing for a donors' conference in Yangon. His German Air Force plane was also loaded with 8 tons of relief goods. Erler said he would obtain on-the-spot information about the way relief groups were able to work.

Germany has so far pledged 4 million euros (6.3 million dollars) to the relief effort. The donors' conference has been summoned by the United Nations and the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN). (dpa)