World leaders on Sunday pledged more than 250 million euros for disaster-struck Lebanon, conference host France said, with the emergency aid to be delivered “directly” to a population reeling from the deadly port blast in Beirut.
Fifteen government leaders including US President Donald Trump took part in the virtual conference hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron and the UN, pledging solidarity with the Lebanese people and promising to muster “major resources” in the coming days and weeks.
A joint statement issued after the meeting in which representatives of nearly 30 countries, as well as the EU and Arab League, participated, did not mention a global amount.
But Macron’s office said the total figure of “emergency aid pledged or that can be mobilized quickly” amounts to 252.7 million euros ($298 million), including 30 million euros from France.
Macron was the first world leader to visit the former French colony after Tuesday’s devastating explosion of a huge stockpile of ammonium nitrate which killed more than 150 people, wounded some 6,000, and left an estimated 300,000 homeless.
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas told ZDF broadcaster that “more than 200 million euros of emergency aid have been collected,” including 20 million euros from Germany.
