$5m partnership to feed hungry refugees

A $5 million global partnership to provide life-saving food assistance to Syrian refugees was announced in Beijing on Monday by the World Food Programme and HNA Group, a Chinese global company focusing on tourism, logistics and financial services. The three-year project will enable WFP to support refugees in Syria, Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan.

"This contribution is an additional confirmation of China's longstanding commitment to helping people in Syria who have suffered so much and who continue to suffer because of the crisis in their country," said David Beasley, executive director of WFP. "WFP will continue to work to increase our cooperation with the public, private and government sectors so we can help more people."

Under the agreement, WFP will use the funds from HNA Group to provide school meals and take-home rations for displaced children in Syria, as well as electronic food vouchers for Syrian refugees in Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan.

The group has also released a specially designed in-flight meal box to raise awareness of the hunger partnership among people in China and those visiting the country. It will print and distribute the boxes for use on domestic and international flights operated by HNA Airlines, Tianjin Airlines and Fuzhou Airlines.

Tang Shengyao, deputy head of the international cooperation department of the Ministry of Agriculture, said that as more and more people commit to the United Nations' 2030 agenda of Sustainable Development Goals, the ministry will continue to support WFP's global strategy and programs to end hunger.

"More importantly, our cooperation and partnership will serve as an opportunity to raise the awareness of more enterprises and individuals to pay greater attention to the world poverty and hunger issue, and to provide supportive living care", said Li Xianhua, vice-chairman of the HNA Group.

Beasley also mentioned that the aid program aims to not only end hunger and conflict and provide supplies, but also to promote the development of local economies. For the first time in a decade, the number of people suffering from hunger is going up because of man-made conflicts and its consequences, according to UN's statistics.

WFP and HNA Group started their strategic partnership in 2013 with an HNA contribution of $1.6 million over five years in support of WFP's school meals and take-home-rations program for nearly 4,000 schoolgirls in Ghana.

Contact the writer at liuxuan@chinadaily.com.cn