UN, September 30. /TASS/. The G-7 countries jointly with their counterparts in Europe and the Persian Gulf have agreed to allocate to the UN humanitarian organisations $1.8 billion for assistance to refugees, Germany's Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told a news conference on Tuesday.
"We have agreed to allocate $1.8 billion to the UN international humanitarian organisations, including UNHCR and the UN World Food Programme," he said following a G-7 ministerial meeting with counterparts, which was organised at the Westin Hotel not far from the UN headquarters.
"Germany only allocates $100 million," he said.
The German foreign minister said within the current year, $20 billion will be necessary for humanitarian assistance worldwide.
A press release following the meeting reads the event featured foreign ministers of Austria, Kuwait, the Netherlands, Norway, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, as well as the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini. The UN was represented by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, and heads of four agencies - Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs /OCHA/, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and the World Food Programme.