Norway increases support to Syria's neighbouring countries

The new financing initiative was recently launched by the World Bank, the UN and the Islamic Development Bank. For every dollar donor countries provide to this initiative, the World Bank will contribute three dollars. This is a smart and effective way to use aid. The funds raised in this way are intended to put Lebanon and Jordan in a stronger position to deal with the massive flows of refugees from war-torn Syria.

Norway's support for the financing initiative was announced at a seminar in Washington, DC. The seminar, which was organised in cooperation with the Atlantic Council, is part of the preparatory work for the white paper on Norwegian foreign and security policy, which will be presented in early 2017.

The topic of the seminar was fragile states. 'Our own security depends on there being stability and development in other parts of the world. We must therefore do everything we can to prevent fragile states from collapsing,' said Mr Brende. He also stressed that aid must be used more strategically, and that a coherent approach is essential. Norway's efforts in the areas of security, development, migration and humanitarian aid must therefore be viewed in conjunction with each other.