German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas asked his EU colleagues to study the idea of boosting support for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) after the US decision to stop financing the body, local media reported on Friday.
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 31st August, 2018) German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas asked his EU colleagues to study the idea of boosting support for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) after the US decision to stop financing the body, local media reported on Friday.
On Wednesday, the UNRWA confirmed that the United States had ceased its financial support for the organization this year.
According to the Spiegel magazine, Maas sent a letter to the EU foreign ministers saying that Germany was going to increase financing for the UNRWA, adding that the funds would not be enough to cover the $217 million deficit. That is why he called on the EU countries to boost their support for the agency.
The minister pointed out that he UNRWA made a significant contribution to ensuring stability in the region.
On Tuesday, media reported citing sources that the administration of US President Donald Trump had decided to terminate its financial support for UNRWA, which amounted to some $350 million a year of the agency's $1.2 billion annual budget. The decision was criticized by Russian Foreign Ministry's spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, who said that the move was politically motivated and was not in line with the humanitarian needs of the region.
