The UAE has pledged a further $60 million to efforts to alleviate the suffering of the Syrian people.
Mariam Al Muhairi, Minister of State for Food Security, announced the pledge as she led the UAE delegation to the Second Brussels Conference on the future of Syria and the region this week.
The conference addressed mobilising resources to provide humanitarian support to Syrians both in Syria and in neighbouring countries and supporting a political peace process spearheaded by the United Nations in Geneva, state news agency WAM reported on Thursday.
Al Muhairi said that the UAE is one of the first countries to contribute in alleviating the suffering of the Syrian people since the beginning of the crisis.
She said the UAE provided relief and humanitarian support, participated in donor meetings and met all its financial obligations over and above initial pledges, and applied political and diplomatic efforts to bring the conflict to an end.
She added that the value of UAE assistance since the beginning of the Syrian crisis amounted to about $880 million, focusing on supporting internally displaced persons in Syria by providing relief and development assistance and by establishing the Syria Reconstruction Fund in cooperation with Germany and the United States.
The fund, which is the first of its kind, has implemented numerous projects in Syria across several sectors including education, health, food, water, shelter, social services and other services.
The UAE has also received more than 130,000 Syrians since the beginning of the crisis, and announced in 2016 that it would welcome 15,000 Syrians by 2022.
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