Former UNHCR lauds His Highness the Amir's support to refugees

GENEVA, Jan 8 (KUNA) -- Former UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Antonio Guterres has highly appreciated His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah's support to refugees, Syrians in particular.
Thanks to His Highness the Amir's efforts, Kuwait has come to be the biggest, and top supporter ever to the UN Refugees Agency, Guterres added in a message on Friday to Kuwait's permanent representative to UN and International Organizations in Geneva Jamal Al-Ghunaim.
Guterres held the post of UNHCR from 2005 to 2015.
He noted that the Kuwaiti government played a significant role to muster the international community in three international conferences for Syria donors.
Kuwait had a major role regarding donations for the Syrians, Guterres said, a matter that had a positive effect on the Agency's handling of the refugees crisis.
The former UNHCR said he was confident the country would continue support to the agency with his successor Filippo Grandi.
For his part, Al-Ghunaim paid tribute to Guterres's efforts, sincerely handling "severe crises," in particular the Syrian one, to relieve refugees' sufferings.
His Highness the Amir and the Kuwaiti people responded to the UNHCR's efforts for refugees, and especially Syrians, as part of a human duty, either through donations to the Refugee Agency or relief agencies, such as the Kuwait Red Crescent Society (KRCS) in cooperation with the relevant organizations, he said.
Al-Ghunaim noted that Kuwait would carry on with support to the agency, and would attend the fourth donors conference for Syria to be held in London next month.
He pointed to the good relations with the new UNHCR.
Kuwait hosted the First, Second and Third International Humanitarian Pledging Conference for Syria over the past three years. (end) ta.maa.msa