Relief Committee chief discusses with Norwegian official cooperation to help terrorism-affected people

Damascus, SANA – Deputy Prime Minister for Services Affairs, Local Administration Minister Omar Ghalawanji affirmed on Thursday that all measures have been taken to guarantee delivering humanitarian and relief aid to all needy people and those affected by terrorism.

Ghalawanji, who heads the Higher Committee for Relief, made these remarks during his meeting with the Advisor at Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Yngvild Berggrav.

He said the government offers all required facilitations to the humanitarian relief workers and the local and international partners to ensure continued delivery of aid through humanitarian convoys, especially in the difficult-to-access areas.

Ghalawanji told Berggrav that since the beginning of 2016 more than 200 joint aid convoys have made their way into 42 difficult-to-reach areas, with more than 1 million people in Damascus Countryside, Idleb, Homs, Hasaka, Aleppo, Hama and Deir Ezzor benefiting from the aid.

He also referred to the ongoing work on rehabilitating terrorism-hit infrastructure and public services facilities, stressing that the government is ready for cooperation with all friendly countries and national and international organizations to alleviate the Syrian people’s suffering as much as possible.

In turn, Berggrav pointed out that her visit to Syria aims at getting acquainted with the situation regarding relief and humanitarian work and discussing means of possible cooperation, mainly in the field of securing shelters and rehabilitating affected houses.

She highlighted the importance of the standing cooperation between Syria and Norway through the Norwegian Refugee Council, which began its work in Syria in late 2015.

The Syrian government supervises and provides services for about 500 makeshift centers hosting displaced people and is currently working on launching new projects to establish new makeshift centers in Damascus Countryside and Homs, each planned to include 2000 housing places. The projects will be fully funded by the government.

M. al-Frieh/H. Said

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