The Chinese government has donated goods and materials totaling 4 million yuan (about $US 484,000 ) to the Afghan refugees in Pakistan, sources with the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation (MOFTEC) disclosed in Beijing Monday.

Donations will be handed to Afghan refugees through the Pakistani government and the Pakistani agency of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

China is also donating goods worth of 10 million yuan (about $US1. 2 million) to the Pakistani government, according to MOFTEC.

All the goods for humanitarian use, including tents, blankets, quilts and paulins, left Urumqi, China's northwestern city earlier Monday on the journey to Peshawar, Pakistan.

(People’s Daily October 23, 2001)