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Foreign Minister Maas meets WFP Executive Director Beasley: Additional humanitarian assistance in the Syria crisis
Foreign Minister Heiko Maas issued the following statement today (10 October) ahead of his meeting with David M. Beasley, Executive Director of the World Food Programme:
The World Food Programme is one of Germany’s key partners in the fight against hunger. Its staff work with great dedication and at great personal risk to help those in need in humanitarian emergencies. That applies to the acute crisis in the Sahel region as well as to the Yemen conflict, where humanitarian aid workers are helping millions of people under very difficult circumstances.
One focus of German humanitarian assistance is the impact of the Syria crisis: Germany has now made available an additional 186 million euros for the World Food Programme in order to continue helping people in Syria and those neighbouring countries affected by the ongoing conflict – especially during the forthcoming winter months. This assistance saves lives.
Within the framework of our UN Security Council membership, we will keep humanitarian assistance at the very top of the political agenda. Together with France, we will remain strongly committed to protecting humanitarian aid workers, humanitarian access and compliance with international humanitarian law.
Background information:
Germany has been supporting the World Food Programme both politically and financially for many years. Having provided a total of 830 million euros, it was the second largest bilateral donor in 2017.
The Federal Foreign Office is making available a total of 286 million euros to the World Food Programme in 2018 to help people in need within Syria and in neighbouring countries. More than 13 million people in Syria, including six million children, depend on assistance; this figure is more than 22 million in the entire region.