Sultan Nazrin's role lauded at UN meeting

Sultan Nazrin Shah of Perak has been commended for his contribution as a member of the High-Level Panel on Humanitarian Financing at a United Nations (UN) meeting on refugees here.

This came from Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev who spoke at the High-Level Meeting on addressing large-scale movements of refugees and migrants held in conjunction with the ongoing United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).

"Bulgaria welcomes the valuable contribution of the High-Level Panel on Humanitarian Financing co-chaired by the Vice-President of the European Commission Kristalina Georgieva and His Royal Highness Sultan Nazrin Shah of Perak," he said.

The president said their work highlighted the need for closer cooperation between humanitarian and development action.

Malaysia was represented at the meeting by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi who is leading the Malaysian delegation to the 71st session of UNGA here.

In an announcent on the establishment of the high-level panel on May 21, 2015, UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon said one of the most important challenges facing the humanitarian system today was the growing gap between the increasing numbers of people in need of assistance and sufficient resources to provide relief.

According to the UN, over the last decade, the demand for humanitarian aid had risen dramatically with the number of people in need having more than doubled since 2004, to over 100 million now.

Humanitarian funding requirements for 2015 stood at US$19.1 billion, up from US$3.4 billion in 2004.

The panel was tasked to examine humanitarian financing challenges and identify ways in which the gap between rising needs and the resources available to meet them could be closed.

The resulting report, “Too important to fail – addressing the humanitarian financing gap”, was launched in Dubai on Jan 17, 2016. -- BERNAMA