AMMAN—
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Ayman Safadi and
his Swedish counterpart Ann Linde chaired, in New York, a ministerial meeting
to support the
United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), with the
participation of
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, according to the Jordan
News Agency, Petra.
اضافة اعلان
A ministry
statement on Thursday, said the meeting, which was attended by a number of
foreign ministers and representatives of about forty countries and
international organization, and the agency's Commissioner-General Philip
Lazarini focused on developing policies and strategies that would ensure the
sustainability of financing the UNRWA’s programs to enable it to provide its
vital services to Palestinian refugees in its five areas of operation.
The meeting
also covered mobilizing support for the vote in the United Nations General
Assembly to renew the agency's mandate next December.
Addressing
the meeting, Guterrs stressed the centrality of the UNRWA in enhancing the
stability in the Middle East region, calling for adequate and sustainable
funding for the agency, noting that the organization still needs over $100
million.
He added
that without the vital services provided by UNRWA, there would be no education
for children and a shelter for families, pointing out that UNRWA's support is a
moral responsibility, and that any disruption of its work would lead to
frustration, and provides terrorist organizations a fertile environment for
recruitment.
For his
part, Safadi stressed the importance of the agency's role as an important
factor for stability in the region and the need to continue to implement its
entire international mandate, and the importance of the international community
to provide the necessary political and financial support to UNRWA so that it
can continue to provide its vital services to the refugees.
According to
the statement, Safadi stressed the need to work on the principle of
participatory burden-bearing, stressing the Kingdom’s continued work with
Sweden and international and regional partners to provide the support the
agency needs to ensure the continued flow of the necessary support it needs,
stressing the need to work on developing policies, strategies and a predictable
budget through a 3-year funding plan, enabling UNRWA to fund its program budget
from the
United Nations regular budget.
Also during
the meeting, Safadi stressed that the agency must continue to provide its
services until the refugee issue is resolved in accordance with international
law, and in the context of a comprehensive solution based on the two-state
solution that embodies the establishment of an independent, sovereign
Palestinian state with occupied Jerusalem as its capital on the June 4, 1967
lines, living side-by-side with Israel in peace and security.
For her
part, the Swedish foreign minister said that the meeting confirms the
international community’s keenness to support UNRWA and its basic role that is
indispensable, stressing the importance of providing sustainable and stable
financial support to the agency, which is in desperate need of it to be able to
provide its services in the sectors of education, health, relief and other services
within its five areas of operation.
Lazarini
spoke about the challenges facing the agency and its financial deficit, the
agency's plan for the coming years, and the efforts to provide the necessary
support for it.
Read more National news
Jordan News
.jpg)
.jpg)
