Qatar participated Wednesday in the international conference supporting the Lebanese people, organised by France and the United Nations via videoconference. Qatar was represented by HE the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Sultan bin Saad al- Muraikhi.
In his speech, HE al-Muraikhi renewed Qatar's affirmation of its continued support for Lebanon and its people, who are capable of withstanding crises and overcoming this ordeal thanks to their strong will as well as the support of the international community. He pointed out that in response to the humanitarian duty and the ensuing solidarity from the bonds of brotherhood, His Highness the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani announced during the Paris Conference for donors, held in August 2020, that Qatar will be allocating $50mn to support the Lebanese Republic.
The minister affirmed that since the first day following the disaster of the Beirut Port, Qatar was quick to establish an air bridge that included 13 planes loaded with hundreds of tonnes of aid, dispatched a team from the International Qatari Search and Rescue Group of the Internal Security Force (Lekhwiya) and established two fully equipped field hospitals with a capacity of 1,000 beds.
He explained that based on Qatar's belief in sustainable development goals, Qatar Fund For Development (QFFD) in co-operation with a number of international organisations, provided many projects, including financing the Lebanese Humanitarian Fund established by the UN, and the restoration of nearly 80 educational buildings in co-operation with Unesco.
He also noted that QFFD provided scholarships for 400 male and female students for five years with a contribution of more than $5mn, adding that the old building of the Karantina Hospital in Beirut was reconstructed and prepared to accommodate patients with heart, cancer, kidneys, and other diseases, and it also provided over 30,000 doses of vaccines to combat the Covid-19 pandemic.
Al-Muraikhi said that the Qatari Armed Forces allocated support for the Lebanese Army to obtain the Covid-19 vaccines, in addition to 70 tonnes of food per month for a year. The minister thanked the Government of France and the Secretary-General of the United Nations for organising this important conference, which is being held at a time when Lebanon is going through a serious crisis that requires the international community to stand by it in order to overcome these multifaceted ordeals, which were exacerbated by the disaster of the Beirut Port explosion.
 
 
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