NEW YORK, 24th March, 2023 (WAM) — The governments of eleven countries, namely the UAE, United States, Egypt, France, Germany, Jordan, Norway, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Türkiye, and the United Kingdom, along with the European Union, and the League of Arab States, have issued a joint statement expressing their steadfast commitment to alleviate the suffering of people who were affected by the earthquake, which recently struck Syria.
The statement, issued by the U.S. Department of State, followed their meeting held in Amman, Jordan on 21st March, 2023, to discuss the current situation in Syria after the earthquakes.
The full text of the statement is as follows:
"We expressed our heartfelt condolences for the immense devastation and loss of life caused by the February 6 earthquakes in Türkiye and Syria, as well as our steadfast commitment to alleviate the suffering of those affected. We encouraged the international community to provide humanitarian assistance – including both emergency response and early recovery projects – to all Syrians in need, especially those in the most affected areas. In this regard, we welcomed the outcomes of the March 20, 2023, international donors’ conference in Brussels to support the people in Türkiye and Syria, and we also looked forward to the seventh annual Brussels Conference on the Future of Syria and the Region on June 15, 2023. We reiterated our call for a nationwide ceasefire and for continuous and unhindered humanitarian access to all Syrians through all modalities, including both cross-border and cross-line. We called for the maintenance and expansion of United Nations cross-border aid, for which there is no alternative in scope or scale. In this regard, we welcomed the recent facilitation by the Syrian authorities of UN cross-border humanitarian access through the Bab al-Salam and al-Rai crossings and called for this to continue.
We also welcomed UN Special Envoy Geir Pedersen’s briefing and reaffirmed our support for UN Security Council Resolution 2254."