Malta donates another €50,000 to United Nations efforts for Palestine refugees

Malta has donated another €50,000 to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East.

This is in addition to the €55,000 that Malta has already given earlier this year.

“In recognition of UNRWA’s high endeavours to assist, protect and advocate for Palestinian refugees, particularly in the fields of educations and health care, it is our pleasure to pledge this additional sum as a sign of our strong support,” Foreign Minister Carmelo Abela stated.

Abela was on an official visit to the West Bank, during which he held talks with the Palestinian Prime Minister, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, and the Minister of National Economy in Ramallah. The visit took place on Wednesday and Thursday. This trip followed a recent similar one to Israel. The Minister was accompanied by a commercial delegation made up of representatives of Malta Enterprise, and the Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise, and Industry, as well as technical experts from the Foundation of Social Welfare Services (FSWS), and the Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology (MCAST), which negotiated and concluded the second round of the Malta-Palestine Intergovernmental Joint Committee. The aim of this Joint Committee is to identify initiatives and novel avenues of cooperation at various levels between the two sides. This second round concluded agreements on several initiatives in the fields of trade and commerce, culture, social affairs, education and capacity building. Malta has pledged to train Palestinian diplomatic officials in Business English as well as Palestinian officers in Civil Protection Training.

Minister Abela discussed the future of the Middle East Peace Process and tangible ways to enhance bilateral relations, particularly in trade and tourism with Palestinian PM Rani Hamdallah, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriate Affairs, Riad Al Malki, and Minister of National Economy, Abeer Odeh. He also exchanged views with Palestinian legislator, activist and scholar, Hanan Ashrawi, who served as an official spokesperson of the Palestinian delegation to the Middle East peace process.

At the premises of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, Ministers Abela and Al Malki also signed a memorandum of understanding on judicial cooperation and another one on cooperation on agricultural matters. Furthermore, the Malta Chamber of Commerce signed an MoU with the Federation of Palestinian Chambers of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture. At the end of the signing ceremony, Abela presented Al Malki with a pledge letter of a donation of €5,000 in aid of the restoration of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.

Abela also delivered a speech on ‘Malta and its Mediterranean Vocation’ at the University of Birzeit, a distinguished Palestinian educational institution with a modern campus near the city of Ramallah. A lecture with a similar theme had been held two days earlier at the University of Haifa, Israel.

After that, Abela was shown around the Al Jalazone Refugee Camp, on the outskirts of Ramallah, by Scott Anderson, UNRWA Director of Operations in the West Bank.

UNRWA provides education, health, relief, and social services to over five million Palestinian refugees in the West Bank, Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan.