(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) BRUSSELS, May 20 (KUNA) -- The European Parliament's (EP) Committee on Budgets praised Friday Jordan's and Lebanon's efforts in hosting respectively 650,000 and 1.1 million refugees as "considerable" and said the EU aid to these two Arab countries is bearing fruit.
The statement came after an eight-member delegation of the Committee visited Jordan and Lebanon from May 15-19 to report on how EU funding for both countries, intended to help them cope with the refugee crisis and to foster development cooperation, as well as supporting UNRWA's budget.
It noted that EU has strongly increased its assistance since the start of the Syrian crisis. Since 2011, Jordan has received altogether EUR 1.3 billion and Lebanon almost EUR one billion.
An additional EUR one billion for the two countries was pledged for 2016-17 at the London Conference.
"On the ground, we could witness that the aid is bearing fruit and brings benefits not exclusively to the refugees, but also to the host communities in the form of water and waste processing, social development centers or schools, for example," said Jean Arthius, Chair of the EP Committee on Budgets and head of the delegation. (end) nk.hb