The Thai government has allocated a budget of over 2.59 billion baht (US$66.41 million) to assist poultry farmers and businesses affected by the bird flu crisis, the Thai News Agency reported Tuesday.

"Local farmers and entrepreneurs of poultry farms having been affected by the avian flu will get their cash compensation from the government as of Feb. 10," said Yongyut Tiyapirat, secretary- general to the prime minister on Monday.

The compensation will be available "once they are certified in written documents by three agencies, including the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Public Health, and the Department of Livestock Development of the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives," said the official, who heads a sub-committee on rehabilitation of poultry farms hit by the bird flu outbreak.

The government would also hold talks with the country's major overseas markets, with measures to be implemented, to restore their confidence in Thai exports of poultry products, he said.

Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak announced that Thai officials would meet representatives of the European Union (EU) and Japan, Thailand's two largest markets for poultry products, to discuss the improving bird flu situation in the kingdom, and to seek for the re-opening of their markets to Thai poultry products.