(MENAFN- The Peninsula) The Peninsula
DOHA: The meeting of Arab League foreign ministers to discuss the lack of financial support threatening the United Nation Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) was held yesterday at the headquarters of the General Secretariat of the Arab League.
The meeting was prior to the meeting of the Council of the Arab League at its 150th session on the ministerial level, chaired by Sudan. The meeting was participates by Arab ministers of foreign affairs or their representatives with the presence of the Secretary-General of the Arab League, Ahmed Aboul Gheit.
The State of Qatar is participating in this meeting with a delegation headed by Minister of State for Foreign Affairs H E Sultan bin Saad Al Muraikhi.
The meeting is held at the request of the Kingdom of Jordan to discuss the repercussions of the severe financial shortage faced by UNRWA in its various areas of operation.
UNRWA's serious fiscal deficit threatens not to provide its humanitarian and educational services to more than five million Palestinian refugees in its five areas of operation. The special session aims to emphasize the importance of providing the Agency with financial, moral and political support to ensure that it continues to discharge its responsibilities towards Palestinian refugees. In May, the State of Qatar signed an agreement with UNRWA, in the presence of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs H E Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani.
Under the signed agreement, the State of Qatar will donate $50m to protect Palestinian refugees' access to basic education in 2018. The donation will be used immediately to sustain the Agency's educational services in all five UNRWA regions: Jordan, Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, Syria, and Lebanon, during the period between June and October 2018.
The State of Qatar is one of the biggest donors to the Agency in 2018. Qatar's donation will also enable the continuation of the provision of UNRWA services in the region during this period of financial crisis and political turmoil.
Meanwhile, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs H E Sultan bin Saad Al Muraikhi met here yesterday with the Commissioner General of the UNRWA, Pierre Krahenbuhl, on the sideline of the 150th session of the Arab League Ministerial Council.
They discussed the role of UNRWA in providing the needs of five million Palestinian refugees in addition to the Agency's financial shortfalls in light of the reduction of financial support provided by the US and ways to face it.
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