'Turkey gives unique support to global development'

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) - Turkey makes unique contributions to global, regional, and local development uniquely, a top UN official said on Tuesday.

"Turkey is hosting millions of Syrian nationals," Mirjana Spoljaric Egger, assistant administrator for the UN Development Program, who is visiting Turkey to review the UNDP’s partnership with the government and visit key program sites in the southeast, stressed in a written statement.

Turkey supported the UNDP's regional program in Europe and Central Asia with $15 million, she noted, adding:

"The country has also become one of the top non-OECD/DAC donors to UNDP core resources, having contributed $15 million since 2013."

Egger is taking part in the annual assessment meeting of the Foreign Ministry and the UNDP, the statement said.

The Partnership Framework Agreement (PFA), signed by the ministry and the UNDP, enables parties to expand national, regional, and global cooperation.

“I hope that in 2019 and beyond, we will expand our partnership with Turkey’s generous support, with a view to reaching the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)," she underlined.

During her visit, Egger will look at programs meant to advance the situation of Syrian and Turkish nationals in southeastern Turkey.

Turkey, the country with the world’s largest number of refugees, hosts around 3.6 million Syrian refugees, the statement noted.

The statement underlined: "The country provides a rights-based legal framework for hosting them, offering free access to education, health care, employment, and social security to Syrians.

"Turkey is also the largest donor of humanitarian aid in the world in proportion to its national income."