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Norway stresses support to Lebanon in refugee crisis

Xinhua, November 8, 2015 Adjust font size:

Visiting Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg expressed on Saturday her country's support for Lebanon as it struggles to contain the refugees issue.

Norway will "continue to support Lebanon to confront the Syrian refugee crisis," Solberg said at a joint news conference with her Lebanese counterpart Tammam Salam.

She expressed hope that the Syrian conflict would reach an end through a "political solution that enables the people to return to their homes."

For his part, Salam said that the two leaders discussed the role that Norway could play in finding solutions for the Syrian crisis, expressing a dire need for "new initiatives to resolve the country's problems."

"Lebanon is exerting efforts to shelter Syrian refugees and take care of them at the beginning of the winter season" he added, praising Norwegian aid to refugees in Lebanon.

Solberg later visited a Syrian refugees camp in the eastern Bekaa valley and stressed the need "to secure more funds to meet the humanitarian needs for Syrians in the neighboring countries."

The Norwegian Directorate of Immigration (UDI) said it expects to receive 20,000 to 25,000 asylum applications in 2015 and more than 30,000 in 2016.

According to the United Nations Higher Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), there are more than 1.1 million Syrian refugees registered in Lebanon. Endit