An amount of US$1.8 billion (AU$2.5 billion) pledged by G7 and Gulf states will be used to help almost 60 million Syrian refugees displaced by the conflict.

With UN General Secretary Ban Ki-moon announcing that UN humanitarian agencies are broke, ministers of G7 member states Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States, with their counterparts from Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and other European ministers, pledged to help the UN.

German minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told reporters that the amount will be handed to international aid organisations of the UN, particularly the UN refugee agency and the World Food Program. Steinmeier added that 100 million euros (AU$158 million) will be shouldered by Germany alone. The money intends to support host nations and receiving nations that have supported a lot of refugees. These include Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan, which have hosted a huge number of refugees since the conflict started a few years back.

A lot of refugees, however, chose to flee to Europe, which is now struggling to cope with the influx.

Countries are doing different methods to take on the issue. G7 member Japan said it will provide around 1.4 billion euros (AU$2.2 billion) to assist Syrians and Iraqis displaced by conflict to bring peace across Middle East and Africa.

A Security Council meeting chaired by Russia is expected to focus on the crisis in Syria. Ban will host a separate meeting regarding Europe’s migration crisis which will aim to agree on a global response.

The UN is asking for a total of US$20 billion (AU$31 billion) to meet this year’s needs. The amount has increased as much as six times the amount from a decade ago.

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