Prague, June 6 (CTK) – The Czech Republic has sent humanitarian aid worth three million crowns, including mobile kitchens, wheel chairs, crutches, medical dressings and other healthcare material, to Syria aboard a military plane, the Foreign Affairs Ministry’s press section told CTK yesterday.
The aid, prepared in cooperation with the Czech Red Cross, was taken over by workers of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC), who will secure its distribution to Syrian internally displaced persons in isolated areas.
“The Czech Republic has succeeded in getting a humanitarian aid supply to Syria. It is intended for people in the areas that have been cut off from other aid supplies for long,” Foreign Minister Lubomir Zaoralek (CSSD) said.
Czech Red Cross president Marek Jukl said the content of the Czech aid had been selected according to the needs found out by the Red Cross and Red Crescent staff.
In 2012-2015, the Czech Republic earmarked over 100 million crowns for Syria and Syrian refugees.
The Foreign Ministry justifies the aid saying the Czech Republic is interested in a quick and efficient solution to the migrant crisis.
The Czech Republic still plays a significant role in Syria by keeping its embassy open there, the ministry says.
“The contacts the Czech embassy has there enable the Czech Republic to continuously push for representatives of Syrian institutions to observe the U.N. Security Council’s resolutions and secure access of humanitarian aid supplies to all areas of the Syrian conflict,” the ministry said.
The Czech Republic considers the main priority to secure a political compromise of all parts in the conflict and observe the truce, it added.
Deputy Foreign Minister Martin Tlapa said in April the Czech Republic might release up to 200 million crowns in aid to Syria in the next three years if the government approved it.
($1=24.221 crowns)
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