UNHCR chief affirms keenness on boosting regional, intl cooperation with Egypt

UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi on Friday affirmed the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)'s keenness on boosting cooperation with Egypt, stressing the importance of this cooperation at the regional and international levels.

Grandi, who earlier met with Alexandria Governor Reda Farahat, hailed significant efforts undertaken by Egypt within the framework of receiving large numbers of refugees and treating them as citizens.

For his part, the governor expressed readiness to allocate a building for hosting refugees in detention, especially women and children, as soon as possible.

Most of the refugees have already been involved in the Egyptian society, the governor added.

On Wednesday, Grandi and Egyptian Health Minister Ahmed Emad el Din signed a MoU, allowing the UNHCR office to provide health services for refugees in Egypt.

The $1.1 million MoU aims at setting a framework for cooperation between the Health Ministry and the UNHCR to provide primary care and emergency services to the registered refugees at the UN body in Egypt.

The MoU will improve the health services provided to the refugees and Egyptian citizens, especially to mothers and newborn infants, to reduce the fatality rate among them. It will also cover the needy people.

Grandi praised the Egyptian Health Ministry for paying attention to the refugees, calling on the international community to support the countries hosting refugees.

Source: MENA