USAID Acting Assistant Administrator for Democracy, Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance Thomas H. Staal Travels to Kuwait for Syria Pledging Conference

For Immediate Release

Monday, March 30, 2015
USAID Press Office
Telephone: +1.202.712.4320 | Email: USAIDPressOfficers@usaid.gov | Twitter: @USAIDPress

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Acting Assistant Administrator for Democracy, Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance Thomas H. Staal and USAID Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance's Director Jeremy Konyndyk will accompany U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power who will lead the U.S. Delegation to attend the third High-Level International Humanitarian Pledging Conference for Syria in Kuwait City, Kuwait on March 31.

The pledging conference, hosted and sponsored by the State of Kuwait, will raise financial resources to meet the humanitarian needs in Syria and neighboring countries, and will be attended by representatives from UN Member States, UN agencies, NGOs, and regional organizations. With more than 12 million people in Syria in need of humanitarian aid and half the country's pre-war population displaced, it remains critical that the international community step up to provide the resources needed in 2015. To date, the U.S. Government has committed over $3 billion in humanitarian funding for the Syrian response, the largest donation of any country.