In recent days Italy okayed three million euros of aid for Lebanon and as a committed backer of UNHCR will work with the UN refugee agency to tackle the deepening crisis in the country and in Syria and Gaza, according to foreign minister Antonio Tajani.
"‘The Italian Government supports UNHCR's activities, Italy is one of the agency's most committed donors," Tajani said in a statement after he held talks in Rome on Thursday with UNHCR chief Filippo Grandi.
"We will certainly work together to immediately address the worsening crisis in Lebanon, Syria and Gaza," Tajani stated.
In a sign of its commitment to UNHCR, the government will involve the agency in a development ministers' meeting in Italy's eastern coastal city of Pescara on 22-24 October and kick off the gathering with a humanitarian conference on the Middle East, Tajani said.
"I also spoke about this yesterday with my colleagues in the Quintet, who agreed on the importance of strengthening humanitarian coordination for the civilian populations in Lebanon and Gaza," Tajani added.
"UNHCR is a key partner in Italy's strategy on migration, particularly in addressing the issue of forced migration," Tajani said after Grandi briefed him on the unfolding humanitarian crisis in Lebanon, on the numerous returns to Syria and UNHCR's action over the Middle East crisis.
The foreign ministry has given over 126 million euros to UNHCR since 2017 to forge projects in the countries which most migrants come from and in transit countries, especially in the priority regions for Italian migration policy - North Africa and the Sahel - the statement noted.
The UNHCR is also a crucial partner for Italy's overseas aid: the 2024 budget contains eight million euros and four million euros were recently approved for initiatives in Niger and Jordan, said the statement.
As recently as this week, three million euros were okayed for humanitarian aid for Lebanon, the statement concluded.
Over a million people in Lebanon have been forced to flee their homes amid an escalation over the past two weeks in the conflict between Israel and Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah, which began firing rockets into Israel in support of Islamist Palestinian group Hamas at the start of the year-old Gaza war.
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