BRUSSELS, April 23 (Xinhua) -- The European Union(EU) and the United Nations(UN) are set to co-chair a two-day international conference starting from Tuesday in Brussels, aiming to pump financial aid for Syrians and garner political support for UN-led intra-Syrian talks.
The conference, the second of its kind since 2017, will bring together participants from more than 85 countries and organizations at ministerial level, as well as those from more than 200 non-governmental organizations(NGOs), according to the Council of the EU.
The first day's meeting focuses on dialogues with NGOs from Syria and the region, which are expected to provide "concrete operational recommendations" to the ministerial meeting on the second day.
In the aftermath of the U.S.-led airstrikes on alleged chemical weapon-related facilities in Syria earlier this month, the conference gets more international attention than the previous one in April 4-5, 2017, during which international donors pledged 5.6 billion euros (6.85 billion U.S. dollars)in aid for 2017 and 3.47 billion euros for 2018-2020.
The EU and its member states are the top donors in Syria and the region, having mobilized over 10.6 billion euros in humanitarian aid and stabilization assistance since 2011, the Council data showed.
Despite lending its weight to the targeted airstrikes earlier this month, the Council underlined that " there can be no military solution to the conflict and strongly supports the work of the UN Special Envoy and the intra-Syrian talks in Geneva."
"We would like to use the Brussels conference to send a clear message from the international community that the fighting has to stop and that the political process has to start," EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said on March 19 at a press conference following the bloc's monthly foreign affairs council.
The UN-backed intra-Syrian negotiations have been suspended since the ninth round, which was held in Vienna on January 25-26, ended up with a truce between the warring sides in Eastern Ghouta countryside of Damascus.
The eighth round of the talks concluded in Geneva on Dec. 14, 2017, making little progress due to a wide rift.
According to UN data, the Syrian crisis over the past six years has caused 330,000 deaths and displaced half of the country's population, with 13.5 million people in need of humanitarian aid. (1 euro = 1.22 U.S. dollars)
