RIYADH: Sweden’s Ambassador to ¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ Petra Menander praised the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center for its professionalism and outstanding efforts in supporting humanitarian work across the world.
Menander met Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeeah, supervisor general of KSrelief, in Riyadh. The two sides discussed issues related to humanitarian and relief affairs.
The Swedish envoy also tweeted about the meeting, saying that she had an excellent discussion with Al-Rabeeah about the follow-up of the third Riyadh International Humanitarian Forum in preparation for the European Humanitarian Forum in later this month.
The Riyadh International Humanitarian Forum was held on Feb. 20-21, hosted by KSrelief in partnership with the UN and its humanitarian agencies.
The forum focused on enhancing global aid efforts, increasing donor funding, and raising the levels of coordination and impact of humanitarian assistance to make humanitarian work more effective and responsive in accordance with international principles and standards, and in line with the achievement of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
The second European Humanitarian Forum will be held March 20-21 in Brussels. The forum, co-organized by the European Commission and Sweden, which currently holds the presidency of the EU Council, will take place in the context of sharply increasing humanitarian needs, changing geopolitical realities, and shrinking humanitarian space.
Humanitarian needs have reached unprecedented levels, with 339 million people around the world requiring life-saving assistance in some form — one in every 23 people on the planet.Â
The war in Ukraine, the global rise in food prices, and the ever-more acute impact of climate change have further exacerbated the situation.
While the gap between needs and available resources continues to expand, the upcoming forum will offer an opportunity to strengthen cooperation and partnership among countries affected by the crises, donors, international stakeholders, the EU, and its member states.
