MENA refugee-hosting countries discuss long-term challenges

AMMAN — Sixty decision-making representatives from Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Tunisia, Turkey and European countries affected by the refugee crisis, and financing partners gathered in Marseille on Monday to discuss the long-term development challenges of the crisis in the MENA region, where more than four million people are displaced, according to a statement from the Word Bank.

Acknowledging that many of the countries in the region coping with large inflows of refugees are of middle-income, the participants said there is a major financing gap, in which countries do not have access to the medium-and longer-term development assistance.

Participants recognised the urgent need of increasing multi-year development resources to strengthen the capacity of countries and communities hosting refugees. The issue will be the subject of a discussion during the International Stakeholders’ Roundtable Meeting for the Middle East and North Africa Region, on the sidelines of the World Bank Group-International Monetary Fund Annual Meeting in Lima, Peru, on October 9, said the statement.