ROME, March 15 (Xinhua) -- Italy will double its contribution to the agency of the United Nations assisting Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) this year, the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs Angelino Alfano said on Thursday.
Alfano made the announcement during an extraordinary conference held at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in the Italian capital.
"Italy intends to double its financial support to the humanitarian activities managed by UNRWA in 2018," Alfano said.
Founded in 1949 to assist Palestinian refugees in the Middle East, UNRWA has been providing help to over 5 million people, including refugees affected by the seven-year-long war in Syria.
"In order to face the Syrian crisis, UNRWAY had to increase its relief efforts to reach out to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians still (living) in the country, and also to assist thousands of displaced people in Lebanon and Jordan," Alfano explained in a statement.
Thursday's ministerial conference at the FAO headquarters was co-chaired by the foreign ministers of Jordan, Sweden, and Egypt, and attended by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, Foreign Affairs High Representative of the European Union (EU) Federica Mogherini, and Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah.
The aim of the event was to stimulate a response by the international community "to ensure UNRWA's unprecedented funding crisis of 446 million U.S. dollars is urgently solved."
