BRUSSELS, The Commissioner General of The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) Philippe Lazzarini Wednesday expressed optimism that a donors conference on Palestine organised by Jordan and Sweden would help in resolving the Agency’s financial crisis.

“The international conference which will be conveyed by Jordan and Sweden in the next months offers a unique opportunity to move away from short-term financial crisis management to long term financial sustainability,” he told the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee in Brussels today.

“The objective of the host of this conference is to find an agreement among UNRWA’s partners, donors on a sustainable and predictable funding level for the agency to implement its mandate,” he said.

Although he did not indicate when and where the conference will take place.

Lazzarini welcomed the active engagement of the EU in the discussion taking place into the run up of the conference.

Despite the US return to UNRWA as its largest donor this year “our financial situation remains uncertain. We still have shortfall of USD 100 million,” he said.

The UNRWA chief said he will be addressing the Arab league foreign ministers meeting in Cairo next week and the focus will be on the contribution of the countries of the region to support the Agency.

He noted that since he last briefed the EP’s foreign affairs committee in November 2020 “the situation in the region has unfortunately deteriorated.” He warned that the security situation remains volatile with the fear that another flareup could take place due to the absence of any political trajectory.

“There is widespread violence and excessive use of force by Israeli security forces which led to the death of more Palestinians this year than the last four years,” he said.

“UNRWA services are life line for many Palestinian refugees and a strong UNRWA contributes to peace and stability in the region,” he stressed.

Source: Kuwait News Agency