Lebanon Calls On International Community To Support Arab Countries Hosting Refugees

BEIRUT (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 20th January, 2019) Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil said on Sunday that the international community should support Arab countries hosting refugees and stressed that there is a need the Arab League's General Secretariat to convene a meeting on this issue.

"We call on the global community to support Arab countries that hosted refugees and empower the General Secretariat of the Arab League to organize a meeting, which will comprise the relevant international missions and organizations," Bassil said during his final address to the Arab League Economic and Social Development Summit in Beirut.

Bassil noted that the international community should be responsible for grave consequences of displacement and make more efforts to help refugees in returning to their homeland.

The Arab League summit began in Beirut on Thursday with a session of a committee of specialized delegations, and is expected to conclude on Sunday. Almost all leaders of the league member-states, except for the Mauritanian president and the Qatari emir, refused to participate in the event, sending other high-level representatives instead.