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78 countries to attend Kuwait's 3rd Syria conf. - FM

KUWAIT, March 16 (KUNA) -- Over 78 countries and 40 international bodies and organizations are set to participate in the Third International Humanitarian Pledging Conference for Syria to be hosted by Kuwait on March 31, the Foreign Ministry announced on Monday.
During a meeting with the envoys and diplomatic missions of the countries that will take part in the conference here, Foreign Ministry Protocol Director Ambassador Dhari Al-Ajran said that His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah would deliver the inaugural speech during the event, followed by a speech by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
The conference's ministerial level inauguration session will include speeches by UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Valerie Amos, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) administrator Helen Clark, he added.
The second session will include speeches by the donor countries that will announce their pledges to support Syria, he said, noting a joint press conference will be held by Kuwait's First Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah and the UN Secretary General.
He stated that Kuwait's embassies were instructed to issue quickly visas for the delegations that will participate in the event.
Kuwait will host the third conference for Syria by the end of this month after it had hosted two donors' conferences in 2013 and 2014.
Pledges of the two conferences reached USD 1.5 billion in the first and USD 2.4 billion in the second.
Kuwait donated about USD 300 million and USD 500 million in the first and second gatherings respectively. (end) hrz.mgb.hm