CAIRO, February 1, 2018 (WAFA) – Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukri Thursday discussed with Pierre Krähenbühl, the Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) the latest developments related to Palestinian refugees in light of the difficulties facing the agency.
The Egyptian foreign ministry said in a statement that the meeting tackled the coordination of efforts and positions with all regional and international donor parties to implement developmental projects and provide all forms of support to alleviate the economic and social situation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
It added that Krähenbühl expressed deep appreciation for Egypt‘s concern to ease the humanitarian crisis facing the Palestinians as well as Egypt’s active role to support UNRWA and its activities.
Shoukri informed Krähenbühl about the results of the consultations he conducted on the sidelines of the extraordinary meeting of the international donor group for Palestine, the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee (AHLC), which was held in Brussels Wednesday.
Shoukri praised the humanitarian role of UNRWA and Krähenbühl’s efforts to improve the situation of Palestinian refugees in Palestine and in host countries.
The United States, the largest contributor to UNRWA, announced on January 16 that it will withhold $65 million out of $125 million it had planned to wire to UNRWA this month.
UNRWA is funded almost entirely by voluntary contributions from UN member states.
Earlier today, Riyad Mansour, the Permanent Observer of Palestine to the United Nations said an international conference is expected to be held soon to address US threats to cut aid to UNRWA.
Mansour told Palestine TV, "We are waiting for the UN Secretary-General [António Guterres] to decide the time and location of the conference, and we expect it to be held in Geneva late February."
Guterres and Krähenbühl are expected to brief the world on the dangerous situation and demand the international community to deal with this issue without negatively impacting the work and services provided by UNRWA.
A.D./M.H.
