European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson have announced plans to organize a Donors’ Conference in support of the people of Turkey and Syria following this week’s devastating earthquake.
The event will be hosted by Brussels in March. The conference will be co-chaired by Oliver Varhelyi, Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement Negotiations, and Johan Forssell, Minister for International Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade of Sweden, which holds the EU Presidency.
The Donors’ Conference, which will be organized in coordination with the Turkish authorities, aims to mobilize the international community.
The conference, which will be open to EU Member States, neighboring countries, members of the United Nations, international financial institutions and other relevant stakeholders, aims to raise funds to support relief efforts in the earthquake-affected regions.
“The EU will support you”
EU Commission President Von der Leyen said that they were shaken by the devastating impact of the earthquakes and that the priority now was to race against time and save as many lives as possible from the rubble.
“We send this message to the Turkish people and the Syrian people: the EU will support you. No one should be left alone in the face of such a tragedy.”
Swedish Prime Minister Kristersson also stated that the earthquakes were of a magnitude unprecedented in the recent past and shared the view that “The effects of the earthquake are really terrible.”
Kristersson expressed his wish that the EU’s aid would be enough to meet the needs of earthquake victims in Turkey and Syria at such a difficult time.
According to the latest official data, the death toll in the 7.7 and 7.6 magnitude earthquakes centered in Kahramanmaraş on February 6 was 9,57, the number of injured was 52,979 and the number of collapsed buildings was 6,444.
Carissa Nicole is a writer with a focus on world news and international topics. she has an experience of more than 4 years in this field. Apart from her journalistic skills, Carissa is also a strong communicator and networker. She is always looking for new opportunities to connect with like-minded individuals and organizations, and is passionate about using her platform to drive positive change and bring important issues to the forefront of public discussion.