BRUSSELS, May 10 (Xinhua) -- The European Union (EU) pledged to provide a total of 1.5 billion euros (1.58 billion U.S. dollars) of humanitarian assistance to Syria in 2022, and an equal amount next year, said Josep Borrell, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, on Tuesday.
He said the 27-nation bloc would provide an additional one billion euros for Syria this year, bringing the annual total to 1.5 billion euros and would provide 1.56 billion euros next year.
The sixth European Union's Conference on Supporting the Future of Syria and the Region kicked off in Brussels on Tuesday. Borrell said the 11-year "bloody and destructive conflict" caused "unspeakable suffering" to millions of people and warned that the Russia-Ukraine conflict was making the plight of poverty-stricken Syrians far worse.
Borrell said that 60 percent of the Syrian population "suffer from food insecurity and barely know where the next meal is going to come from."
He noted that the conflict in Ukraine will increase food and energy prices and the situation in Syria will become worse.
Germany pledged to pay 1.05 billion euros in aid for Syria over the coming years, the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) announced on Tuesday.
"Even though Europe is obviously looking at Ukraine right now, we are not forgetting the Syrian civil war and the suffering it is causing," said German Minister for Development Svenja Schulze at the conference.
In addition to monetary aid, Schulze called for "a global effort" to cushion the impact of the Russia-Ukraine conflict on world food supplies. (1 euro =1.05 U.S. dollars ) ■