India pledges $5 million for Palestinian refugees

United Nations June 26 (IANS) India has pledged $5 million for the UN agency that helps Palestinian refugees during a campaign to make up for the shortfall in its funding after the US cut its contributions.

The offer of the contribution to the organisation known as UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) was made on Monday at a pledging conference here the UN said.
The agency faces a shortfall of $250 million according to the UN.
US President Donald Trump announced in January that the US would cut its contributions to UNRWA. The agency said that the actual shortfall for its budget would be $300 million as it had been expecting $365 million from Washington but has received only $65 million.
In March India had announced at a conference in Rome that it was raising its annual contributions from $1.25 million per year to $5 million for the next three years.
Besides India 19 countries made pledges for UNRWA on Monday. The agency serves about 5.3 million refugees scattered around the Middle East.
(Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in)

--IANS al/soni/