KUWAIT, Jan 30 (KUNA) -- UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon announced Wednesday that total pledges for the Syrian people exceeded the USD 1.5 billion target they set earlier.
Addressing the final session of the one-day International Humanitarian Pledging Conference for Syria, Ban that "we have exceeded our target of USD 1.
5 billion.
"More than USD 1.5 billion have been pledged by the countries and organizations for the next six months," said Ban, noting that this was the largest response ever.
Ban thanked His Highness the Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah for his "generous" pledge of USD 300 million for the Syrian refugees.
Kuwait's Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Sabah, reading concluding remarks by His Highness the Amir, thanked donors for their generous pledges that would alleviate suffering of the Syrian people.
"We are still required to provide the largest amount of aid and financial resources to address this humanitarian disaster," he said.
"We call upon all brotherly and friendly countries which have not announced their contributions to do so as the door is and remain open for these contributions ...," said Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled.
He said "we are looking forward with hope to the unity of the international community to find a solution to overcome this this painful tragic situation in Syrian, and to stop the bloodshed, killing, destruction and displacement in this brotherly country." Sheikh Sabah thanked all participants who brought about success of this conference, which reflected the sympathy of the international community towards the Syrian people.
"We hope the Syrian people achieve their aspirations, and to haste an end to its humanitarian tragedies, saving Syria and restoring its stability and welfare," he said.
Over 700,000 Syrian refugees are in neighboring countries: Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and Turkey. They fled the hostilities in their country.
The conference is being attended by delegations from 59 countries, as well as 13 UN agencies, four regional organizations, the international Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent, and 17 NGOs. bs KUNA 301800 Jan 13NNNN