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UAE minister stresses refugee crisis "be tackled in Syria"

Xinhua, September 17, 2015 Adjust font size:

Visiting Economy Minister of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Sultan Bin Saeed Al Mansouri emphasised here on Thursday that the refugee crisis should be tackled at its root, meaning in Syria, and proposed setting up safe zones for refugees.

Mansouri made this remarks in Ljubljana when coming for a solution to end the war in Syria, which he argued would simultaneously address the issue of Syrian refugees after meeting his Slovenian counterpart Zdravko Pocivalsek.

He would notably like to see more coordination between Middle Eastern and European countries in the search for a way to end the fighting in Syria, according to the Slovenian Press Agency.

Responding to rising criticism against rich Gulf countries for their alleged failure to contribute enough to solving the refugees crisis, the minister said the UAE had contributed 1.3 percent of their GDP to help several crisis countries since the war in Syria broke out in 2011.

The country's GDP amounts to around 400 billion U.S. dollars and the Emirates are the biggest aid donor in terms of GDP percentage, Mansouri stressed. Endit