FM leaves for Rome to co-chair UNRWA conf.

CAIRO - 14 March 2018: Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry left here on Wednesday evening heading for Rome to co-chair a conference in support of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

Egypt is the head of the UNRWA Advisory Commission. The Egyptian top diplomat will co-chair the event alongside the foreign ministers of Jordan and Sweden, Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid said.

The conference follows UNRWA media statements last week saying that the agency was facing an "unprecedented financial crisis," calling for global mobilization to find a solution to the crisis that will disrupt food, health care and educational aid to millions of Palestinians.

The fiscal crisis was triggered by a January decision by US President Donald Trump to cut the agency's funding by more than half, holding an estimated $65 million of a planned $125 million aid package from the organization.

The US is the UNRWA's largest donor, contributing nearly a third of its budget.