By Xinhua
Amman : An international conference on Iraqi refugee issues was held Tuesday in Amman, Jordan. Representatives from Iraq, Egypt, Syria and Lebanon attended the meeting, while Turkish, Iranian representatives and officials from United Nations and the European Union also took part in the conference as ” observers”.
During the one-day conference, Jordanian Foreign Minister Salah Bashir called for more efforts to help countries hosting Iraqi refugees to cope with the burdens of sheltering Iraqis.
According to official statistics, Iraqis residing in Jordan cost the country 2.26 billion U.S. dollars over the past three years.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimated that more than 2 million Iraqis have fled their homeland for safety abroad to wait out the war, with more than 700,000 and 1.2 million spilling into neighboring Jordan and Syria respectively.
“We need a mechanism to help these states cope with the burdens of hosting Iraqis and provide them with adequate care until they return to Iraq,” said Bashir.
He also stressed the importance of restoring security and stability in Iraq through a political process.
In January, the UNHCR appealed for 261 million U.S. dollars for programs to “support the most vulnerable of the uprooted inside and outside Iraq.”