Date : 15/01/2014
KUWAIT, Jan 15 (KUNA) -- Swedish Minister for International Development
Cooperation Gunilla Carlsson said here on Wednesday her country pledged USD 35
million for the Syrian people.
Speaking at the Pledging Conference for Syria held here in Kuwait, the
minister said since the Syrian crisis broke out, Sweden has donated over USD
100 million for Syria, and has even hosted over 25,000 Syrian asylum-seekers
since January 2012.
She also unveiled that Sweden would continue supporting development,
democracy, human rights and women as part of Syria's reconstruction efforts by
a sum of USD 21 million over two years.
On his part, Danish Minister of Development Cooperation Christian Friis
said his country pledged USD 37 million for the Syrian people this year,
hiking up to USD 117 million later as part of international humanitarian aid
to Syria.
He pointed to another pledge worth USD 18 million for backing a political
solution to the Syrian crisis and stability initiatives in Syria.
Turkish Minister of Development Cevdet Yilmaz stressed the importance of
providing humanitarian aid to refugees inside and outside Syria as a top
priority.
He said should the Syrian regime deny humanitarian convoys access to the
country, then UN resolutions need to be adopted in order to protect
humanitarian aid convoys.
Turkey hosts over 700,000 Syrian refugees out of a total of 6.5 million
refugees, he pointed out.
Turkey has hosted a total of over USD 2.5 billion for hosting Syrian
refugees, he added.
On his part, Finnish Minister for International Development Pekka Haavisto
announced a pledge of seven million euro for Syrian refugees.
Finland provided USD 32 million in humanitarian aid to Syrian refugees and
USD five million in development assistance, he said.
He urged all parties involved in Syria to respect international
humanitarian laws and give humanitarian aid access to violence-hit people.
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