Syria-UNDP Discuss Boosting Cooperation to Meet Citizens’ Basic Needs

 DAMASCUS, (ST)- Deputy Premier, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Walid al-Moallem and the Regional Director of the UN Development Program (UNDP) Murad Wahbeh on Thursday discussed boosting cooperation between the Syrian government and the UNDP as to enhance the development programs conducted by the government in order to meet the basic need of the Syrian citizens.

Al-Moallem reviewed the government’s efforts to implement the development programs despite the obstacles hindering such efforts namely the continuity of the unjust unilateral economic sanctions imposed on Syria, the crimes being perpetrated by terrorist groups that have destroyed many resources specialized for development and the attempts of politicizing the humanitarian and development files by some donor parties.

 He affirmed the importance of cooperation between the Syrian government and the UNDP  in the coming era, particularly in the reconstruction field.

On his part, Wahbeh hailed the Syrian government’s efforts to meet the basic needs of the Syrian people under extraordinary circumstances in the country and thanked it for constructive cooperation with the program. He pointed out that the UNDP seeks increasing the program-funded projects to be carried out in Syria in cooperation with the government to cover the humanitarian and development fields away from selectivity and politicization.

He expressed the program’s readiness to cooperate with the Syrian government as to enhance its ability to confront the growing burdens of people’s life, stressing the importance of more coordination and partnership between the two sides.

Hamda Mustafa