HE Secretary-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Dr. Ahmed bin Hassan Al Hammadi said that Qatar's hosting of the 10th meeting of the major donors group for Syria under complex circumstances demonstrates its keenness to support the brotherly Syrian people in light of the inability of the international community to address the root causes of the seven-year crisis.

Addressing the meeting, HE the Secretary-General underlined that the State of Qatar is proud of its humanitarian efforts, and is proud of HE the UN Secretary-General's Envoy for Humanitarian Affairs Dr. Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Muraikhi, one of its sons who worked hard in the humanitarian field, wishing him all luck and success.

He stressed that the Syrian crisis, which claimed the lives of half a million people can be resolved only when the Syrian people get the rights they deserve and sacrificed for, noting that the State of Qatar knows the meaning of the struggle for the right and from this point, Doha has become known as the castle of the oppressed.

The Secretary-General reviewed some of Qatar's development and humanitarian efforts to support the Syrian people. Since the beginning of the crisis, Qatari aid to the Syrian people has reached more than $2 billion. Its pledges and assistance in support of this just cause have reached nearly $1.6 billion in the past year whether through direct government support or through civil society organizations and Qatar's humanitarian associations and donor institutions.

By the end of 2016, and on the directives of HH the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, all aspects of celebrating the National Day of the State were canceled on 18 December in solidarity with the Syrian people, including the people of Aleppo who were subjected to the most severe repression, displacement, and genocide, he added.

All Qatari institutions and ministries were mobilized in a campaign described as "the largest campaign of donations to support the Syrian people". the donation operation continued until 20 December 2016 and the donations reached approximately $330 million. After the donation campaign, the State of Qatar received a letter of thanks and appreciation from the United Nations, he said.

HE Dr. Al Hammadi expressed his thanks and appreciation to charities, humanitarian organizations and national donor institutions in Qatar and the region for their huge efforts and active contributions to support the just cause of the Syrian people.

He noted that the State of Qatar participated in the presidency of an international conference on Syria along with the United Nations, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Germany and Norway in Brussels on April 4 and 5 with an aim to mobilize support for the resources of humanitarian response, push forwards the international efforts related to the political track, reconstruction, and the post-conflict political transition process. The State of Qatar pledged $100 million and the conference resulted in $6 billion pledges to support Syria, as well as a strong political statement acknowledged the efforts of the Gulf cooperation Council (GCC) countries and their generous support to alleviate the humanitarian crisis.

Doha also hosted a regional meeting in early April included the United Nations and 25 national and regional non-governmental organizations resulted in pledges of $262 million in support of the humanitarian response to Syria, he added.

HE the Secretary-General said that the 17th Doha Forum, held on May 14 and 15, focused on development, stability and refugee issues, reflecting the State of Qatar's interest in this humanitarian issue. He noted in this regard that Qatar hosts the Syrian brothers and provides them with a decent livelihood of jobs, education and health care, which gives them an opportunity for social integration and participation in the development process, in addition to the allocation of special projects to support education and reunification programs for Syrian families in Doha.

Concluding, HE Dr. Ahmed bin Hassan Al Hammadi said that Syria deserves more support than sympathy, and looked forward to the positive role of all participants in the meeting in order to mobilize the greatest support possible for the Syrian people.

For his part, HE the UN Secretary-General's Envoy for Humanitarian Affairs Dr. Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Muraikhi underlined that Brussels meeting which was held to alleviate the suffering of the Syrian people provided $6 billion to support resilience, adaptation and development activities in 2017, and an additional $3.7 billion in support for the activities in 2018-2019, noting that work is continuing to realize the pledges into a serious commitment from humanitarian partners to give genuine support to the Syrians and give them hope.

He reviewed the repercussions of the Syrian humanitarian crisis on humanitarian teams and medical relief teams, where more than 770 medical workers were killed and there were 30 attacks on medical facilities in a country where only 50% of its health facilities are functioning, as well as the spread of infectious diseases such as typhoid and hepatitis, warning that Syria is in urgent need of medical personnel to address these complex health challenges and called on the international community to put an end to these attacks, especially those that may amount to war crimes.

The UN envoy noted that food insecurity affects 7 million people and another 2 million people are at risk because many farmers have to abandon their crops because of high seed and fertilizer prices. Wheat production has fallen by 44% since the start of the war because of fighting and weather conditions, resulting in reduced food production.

He added that the humanitarian needs exceed the geographical borders of Syria, praising the role of the neighboring countries, which still show generosity and resilience even as they bear the burden of political, economic, social and security difficulties and the exhaustion of their savings and resources to respond to the needs of 4.7 million refugees hosted in their communities.

He called for allowing humanitarian actors to reach all those in need throughout Syria, and to remove obstacles to medical convoys and protect civilians and infrastructure by all parties to the conflict. He also called for allowing the humanitarian community to provide medicines for patients and food, especially as more than 13.5 million Syrians are in desperate need of support.

The UN envoy called upon the parties concerned to make every effort to reach a political solution that would end the crisis and the grave human suffering.

Meanwhile, representative of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Marcy Vigoda praised Qatar's efforts in support of the Syrian refugees at the governmental level or through civil society organizations both inside Syria and besieged cities or in neighboring countries of Syria, noting the great role of the State of Qatar in supporting the United Nations and its competent organizations in this regard.

She welcomed the talks in Astana and Geneva to help Syria, which was attended by a large number of donor countries and hoped that the pledges made by donor countries will become commitments as soon as possible.

She called on major donors to use their contacts and to discuss with their governments the implementation of these commitments so that the United Nations can continue to support the needy in every way, especially Syria.

Vigoda also thanked Syria's neighboring countries for their protection and shelter for the refugees as well as the facilities for the entry of assistance to the Syrian refugees.