The Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Paolo Gentiloni, is in London today to attend the Conference of Syria Donor Countries that will meet in order to raise more funds to tackle the present extremely serious humanitarian crisis.
In addition to raising the financial resources needed to respond to the ongoing crisis, the Conference – convening the Heads of State and Governments of 70 Countries in addition to several international and regional agencies – aims to overcome the emergency phase and set in motion medium-to-long-term programmes to promote the economic recovery of the Countries in the region, giving employment prospects to Syrian refugees through a set financial measures by donor Countries and International Financial Institutions.
The humanitarian appeal launched by the United Nations for 2016 envisages a request for a total of almost 9 billion dollars, with 3.2 billion for interventions in Syria and 5.8 billion for the neighbouring Countries which host most of the refugees. Only a little more than half of the 7 billion dollars requested in 2015 have been allocated.
Organised by the United Nations, Germany, the United Kingdom, Norway and Kuwait, London’s Syria Donor Conference follows the previous editions that were held annually in Kuwait City starting from 2013.