(MENAFN- Jordan News Agency) Amman, Mar.14 (Petra) -- Minister of Foreign and Expatriates Affairs, Ayman Safadi will head, along with his Egyptian and Swedish counterparts, in Rome on Thursday, an extraordinary ministerial conference dedicated to rally support to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

A Foreign Ministry statement said Wednesday the conference, which is held upon a Jordanian initiative, aims at mobilizing international political and financial support for UNRWA, enhancing its efficiency, expanding its donor base and develop financial plans that will ensure sustainable financing for it, to address a huge fiscal deficit estimated at $446 million, which would affect the UN agency's core services for nearly 5.3 million Palestinian refugees in its five areas of operation.

The conference was preceded by intensive Jordanian diplomatic contacts with many countries and international officials to hold the conference with a large international presence, in order to ensure that the gathering would delivered the intended results.

The Rome meeting will emphasize the need to enable the UNRWA to continue providing services to Palestine refugees, as an international political, legal, moral and humanitarian responsibility.

The refugees issue is one of the most important final status issues, which must be resolved on the basis of relevant international legitimacy resolutions, in particular the 194 UN Resolution and the Arab Peace Initiative, guaranteeing the refugees' right of return and compensation.

AF
14/3/2018 - 09:38:21 PM

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