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Interview: UN refugee relief body eyes deeper cooperation with China: commission-general

Xinhua, July 8, 2015 Adjust font size:

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) is willing to forge a closer relationship and boost exchanges of views with China, the head of the UN refugee relief has said.

"China has been supporting UNRWA since the 1960s. I am personally very committed to a strengthening relationship between UNRWA and China," Pierre Krahenbuhl, commissioner-general of UNRWA, said here in an exclusive interview with Xinhua on Tuesday before concluding his four-day visit to China.

UNRWA and China can cooperate with each other in many areas, particularly in the field of education, he added.

"Financial issue is very important but it is not the only way that you can cooperate. China has a lot of interest in education (cooperation), and we have a very big education program, so we will see what we can develop in the years to come," Krahenbuhl said.

He also showed interest in conducting cooperation with China in the business sector, saying, "China has a very active business sector. It would be interesting to see one day that there is cooperation with China that would help UNRWA in the Middle East."

Stressing the importance of improving the mutual understanding between the UN agency and China, Krahenbuhl said "it is very important to have a better understanding about the priorities of China's foreign policy and how does China's foreign policy focus on the Middle East."

Speaking of UNRWA's current financial crisis, which he described last month as the "most tense and risky" since its establishment, Krahenbuhl said the real reason for the crisis is that the increasing need for money has outpaced the growth of donations.

"The donation has been growing in recent years by about 1 percent, but the need has grown more, " he said, citing "more refugees" and "big conflicts in the region" as reasons.

Founded in 1949, UNRWA has helped some 5 million Palestinian refugees in Gaza, the West Bank, east Jerusalem, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq. About 97 percent of its budget comes from donors. Endi