UNRWA head Krahenbuhl meets Jordan's FM
71 views · Published 25 December 2018 · 2:34 · Indexed 8 November 2026
Channel: AP Archive · 2018 · News & Politics
(20 Dec 2018) LEADIN UNRWA's Commissioner-General has met with the Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman al-Safadi. They discussed plans to secure funding for the UN's Palestinian refugee programme for the next year. STORYLINE: With a warm embrace and a shake of hands, UNRWA Commissioner-General Pierre Krahenbuhl meets with Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman al-Safadi. UNWRA, the UN's Palestinian refugee programme, faced major budget cuts this year after the United States slashed funding for it, as well as USAID programmes in the Palestinian territories. Krahenbuhl and Al-Safadi are here to discuss securing the urgent funding needed for 2019. "There will be a meeting at the beginning of next year between the UNRWA experts and the specialists and their counterparts in the Foreign Ministry in order to place a work plan, and to communicate with our partners," explains Al-Safadi. "And we are studying the creation of a financial plan for three or five years until there is financial stability and thus stability on the agency's ability to do its role," he adds. Krahenbuhl expresses his gratitude for Jordan's efforts to overcome the unprecedented UNRWA deficit in 2018 after the US cut off their funding. "I have to say that without this energy, without this strong conviction that you showed and that the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan showed throughout the year we would not have managed, which we now have, to almost overcome the entirety of that shortfall," he says. The shortfall he refers to was 446 million US dollars, the worst deficit in the history of this agency. The deficit has now been reduced to less than 20 million US dollars. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/ You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/915018afc4d293027d085057fe9f8158
