CAIRO, Jan. 14 (Xinhua) -- Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al Sisi stressed on Monday the importance of dealing with the phenomenon of refugees influx and all kinds of human displacement by addressing their main causes and dimensions related to development, political and security stability.
Sisi's remarks came during his meeting with Commissioner of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi in Cairo.
The Egyptian president pointed out that Egypt bears heavy burdens as a destination for the refugees in terms of its commitment to the international conventions which stipulate providing a good life for the refugees, official MENA news agency reported.
He noted that Egypt did not receive any international support to ease the burden and pressures from hosting the refugees in the country.
Grandi, for his part, asserted the UN refugee agency's keenness on boosting cooperation with Egypt, stressing its pivotal role on the regional and international arenas.
The UN official appreciated Cairo's efforts to host a large number of refugees from various nationalities and treat them as citizens as well as its success in halting illegal immigration from its shores for more than two years.
Sisi stated in December that his country hosts nearly five million refugees from different countries.
Earlier in the day, Grandi held a meeting with Egyptian Deputy Foreign Minister for African Affairs Ambassador Hamdi Sanad Loza.
During the meeting, Loza said Egypt treated on an equal footing all refugees regardless of their nationalities, adding the Egyptian government is also keen on providing international protection for them.
The Foreign Ministry said in a press release that Grandi praised efforts exerted by the Egyptian government to protect refugees.
Grandi also expressed the his agency's appreciation of services offered by Egypt to refugees that place a great burden on the host country's economy, considering the strain on the resources and opportunities across the different sectors, according to the statement.
Also on Monday, Arab League (AL) Secretary General Ahmed Aboul-Gheit discussed with Grandi means to develop cooperation between the pan-Arab organization and the UN refugee office in line with a memorandum of understanding signed by the two sides in September 2017 on addressing Arab refugees' needs inside and outside the Arab region.
Arab League spokesman Mahmoud Afifi said Aboul-Gheit expressed appreciation for efforts exerted by the UN refugee office on dealing with the difficult humanitarian conditions facing a large number of Arab refugees as a result of armed conflicts in some Arab countries especially Syria, Yemen and Libya, which forced an unprecedented number of people to flee their countries.
The spokesman added that the commissioner reviewed during the meeting the programs, activities and plans of the UN refugee body in the Arab region to deal with the problem of the growing number of Syrian refugees.
Speaking to reporters after his meetings in Cairo, Grandi called for providing further assistance to Egypt, given the large number of refugees, especially the Syrian and African ones in the country.
The UN official said the international community has not recognized Egypt as one of the host countries of refugees, only until after the problem of illegal migration across the Mediterranean emerged, describing the current assistance delivered to Cairo as insufficient.
Grandi reiterated that his agency is seeking to offer technical and humanitarian support for Cairo, noting that the value of the UN refugee programs in the country in 2017 ranged from 40 to 50 million U.S. dollars only.
He also urged drumming up support for African states, so that they could bear the high burden caused by the huge influx of refugees and the displaced people, whose number grows in the conflict-hit areas such as Somalia, South Sudan and Burundi.
Moreover, Grandi said that Brussels will host soon a conference for probing the possibility of providing necessary financial aid of five billion U.S. dollars to the displaced people in Syria and neighboring countries.
