Hey, good morning. Um, thanks to all in

New York who are joining us today and

good uh good evening to um uh our

speakers who are joining us today from

Damascus. Uh today we are joined by Mr.

Alexander Dro, the administrator of the

UN development program together with Mr.

Tom Fletcher, the under secretary

general for humanitarian affairs and the

emergency relief coordinator. Uh they

have spent a long day I'm sure uh in

Damascus. uh they've met with senior

government officials and together they

took part in the launch of this year's

humanitarian needs and response plan for

Syria. I know their time is limited so I

turn the floor to Mr. Dro for opening

remarks. Thank you so much.

>> Yes. So let me uh let me restart because

I uh I just um I just started. Um so um

together with with head of Fletcher

we've been here yesterday and and today

and and really marked uh the moment um

in which we are here in Syria after a

two- long period of um of an atrocious

war with with with too many casualties.

You see that we are here at the pivotal

moment and at the moment where next to

providing humanitarian aid and there's

still need for uh for humanitarian aid

we are at the moment where we can uh we

can shift from purely humanitarian to

also doing uh doing doing development

work uh development work for many

reasons but but the main reason is that

we see that there is quite some return

uh last year more than 1.6 6 million

people have returned to Syria, have

returned to um reconstruct their their

country to come back to the country

which they have left often in dramatic

circumstances that leads to increased

needs. needs on housing, needs on

government services, needs on uh on on

jobs and and providing those services

are really crucial because if we're not

able to provide those services, well,

actually people who had the intention to

return might at some point make the

choice to not return at all. And so when

the needs are shifting, it is crucial

that also the funding is uh is shifting.

Um there is still humanitarian needs and

and and we count on on the services of

of Acha and other humanitarian

organizations for the months to come.

But we need to be able to scale up

dramatically um the development services

that we uh that we provide. Um the

region is uh in urgent need for a

success story and uh Syria could be a

success story if we are able to stand on

the side of of the Syrian people and

provide the services that are um that

are needed. And so this is really an

appeal to the international community at

a difficult moment um to do the

necessary investment support and

advocacy for making sure that we can

shift into into development development

work. We see that the government has

wellestablished plans and

wellestablished um priorities.

priorities such as for example um no

mines on on the land of of Syria which

is going to be a huge endeavor but for

example also a plan of zero camps to

make sure that in a year time no one

would be living in camps anymore and and

and we um we applaud those ambitious

goals and really think that um as UN

organizations together with NOS's and

international NGOs's we can play a big

big role in uh in that if you allow me.

I would also like to to highlight an

economic analysis that have been done by

uh by UNDP's bureau for for uh for

Arabic states on what is the impact of

the war in the region and and and the

impact of the war in the region is

really uh reversing progress. Um a war

like this destroys uh months of uh of

development progress. And here the

estimation is that it would lead to um a

scaling back of one and a half year of

progress, an economic loss of 190

billion and more than 4 million people

being pushed into into poverty. This is

only an analysis on the Arabic states.

We see that there is also a spillover

into subsaharan Africa which um which is

not included in the analysis that we

have uh done. Uh development is step by

step. Uh we create skills, we create

jobs, we create stronger institutions.

War and does it in weeks. Progress that

takes months and years isn't done in uh

in weeks. And from our perspective, it

is urgent that um the war activities

stop so that we can continue with the

progress that we have been achieving

over the past years in the region.

And I will now give the word to my

colleague Tom Fletcher.

>> Well, thank you Alexander and thank you

Erie and uh it's good to see you online

uh colleagues. So, as as Alexander says,

we're we're visiting the region under

the cloud of the escalating regional

conflict. Uh I started the week in uh in

Lebanon uh and saw uh the president, the

prime minister, uh the speaker of the

house also made site visits to spend

time with Syrian and Lebanese uh

refugees, but also with humanitarian

workers who come under such attack in

Lebanon. that the number and the scale

of those attacks is devastating. Uh and

you may have heard me brief the security

council from from Beirut about the

importance of respect for international

humanitarian law. the importance of

protecting humanitarians especially well

all humanitarians but notably at the

moment medics paramedics uh who are

coming under uh such uh attack and of

course the importance of deescalation

and that means an end as you've heard

from the secretary general earlier today

of Hezbollah's rocket fire

indiscriminately into Israel and

Israel's uh devastating military action

in uh in Lebanon.

One in five people in Lebanon is

displaced right now. Uh I saw for myself

enormous uh destruction, the impact of

coercive displacement and came away with

two real concerns uh which I've shared

with the security council. One that we

may be facing the prospect and from the

sound of the statements being made by

some Israeli ministers. It's a real

danger of a fresh occupation of a fresh

occupied territory uh in southern

Lebanon. But also, I came away with a

real concern about national cohesion and

the importance of all Lebanese parties

pulling together in this moment of real

fragility and concern as so many people

are on the move. And then here to Syria

to join Alexander. I hope this is a a

living demonstration of UN80 in action.

uh the the secretary general has called

for agencies to work together much more

closely and here we are I hope

demonstrating that UN80 is about looking

at more common premises more common

supply chains more common procurement

but also more common planning and

strategizing and we've arrived as

Alexander says at a moment of actual of

genuine hope for Syria. We were able to

discuss that with the president uh

earlier today. I think we're all

conscious of the need to keep Syria out

of that wider regional crisis, but

there's potential now for Syria to move

from being uh an

importer of problems from the region to

an exporter of uh genuine solutions and

stability. And although the humanitarian

needs are still very high, almost 16 uh

million people need humanitarian support

right now. We have to clear the minds.

As Alexander has mentioned,

there has been real progress in the last

15 months since I was here in December

2024. Progress that has defied a lot of

predictions and and many expectations.

And we have to build on that progress

now, which means we accelerate the

humanitarian work that we're doing,

including that vital mind clearance. And

we launched today our 2026 humanitarian

needs and response uh plan. But it also

means very importantly as Alexander has

described this transition, this

reccalibration as we phase down the

humanitarian response and phase up the

development, resilience, long-term

recovery response. And as part of that

today has really driven home to us the

way in which we can work in partnership

with the government and that can give us

much more confidence as we move through

the gears and into that recovery phase

of this work. While the humanitarians

are here, we're of course working

aligned with our humanitarian

principles, neutrality and independence.

We're prioritizing hard as part of the

humanitarian reset. We're ensuring that

more resource goes to uh local actors.

We're building up our local incountry

leadership. We're delivering more

efficiently, getting rid of the

bureaucracy and the inefficiency, the

duplication uh in the system. And we're

of course ensuring that everything we do

supports an inclusive political process.

And this has been a key message from

both of us in meetings today. And of

course, ensuring that the vital role of

women and girls at the center of Syria's

recovery uh is supported. As Alexander

says, the world needs a success story

right now. And I think we've both seen

today and both feel growing confidence

that Syria can continue to be that

success story even amid such a bleak,

dark moment for the region.

So, thank you Arie and and back to you

in case there are any questions.

>> Thank you so much to Mr. Dro and Mr.

Fletcher. Um, do we have anybody online

or um in the room who would like to ask

a question?

>> Oh, sorry. Yes, please.

>> Uh, uh, thank you, Mr. Fletcher and Mr.

Drew for your very important work. I

think just calling it important would be

an understatement. So thank you

gentlemen for all the work you do. Uh

this is Amed Ali with Sphinx Knees TV.

Uh Mr. Fletcher uh while you have

mentioned that there are immense

improvements within the political

process and humanitarian and uh

situation in Syria. Uh, I want to take

you back to the comments that you made

to the security council when special

envoy Bareric was there and you were

telling the council that the current

escalations in the war in Iran are

creating a refugee crisis that is

prepondering the the situation in Syria

and um almost depleting its uh public

administration. Could you speak a little

bit about well I know it's not within

your capacity to to predict outcomes but

could you speak a little bit about how

much of an impact you think uh that

refugee crisis will debilitate Syria's

public uh sector moving forward uh and

if you think that'll hinder any of the

progress that the current authorities

have made. Um again just looking to the

foreseeable future. Uh thank you

gentlemen. I appreciate it.

Well, thank you. And look, um, it's,

let's be clear, it's a real challenge.

Uh, I was very impressed coming across

the, uh, Lebanon Syria border to see the

facilities that are in place there, uh,

including medical facilities for those

coming, uh, coming home. About 200,000

refugees or displaced people have

crossed the border in the last three or

four weeks. The vast majority, about

175,000 of those are Syrians coming

home. But that leaves about 25,000

others uh mainly Lebanese and of course

Palestinians people who've often been

displaced multiple times. So while the

government is preparing and is very

focused on uh creating the conditions

where they can close the camps within

Syria, these are very very significant

numbers and it's why we are fully

mobilized our colleagues of course at

UNHCR, our colleagues at M but working

across the humanitarian community to try

to support that community. uh on the

move and to try to help the government

plan for all eventualities. I think you

know one depressing impression I had and

I I think it's shared by so many people

in Lebanon there was a sense of uh

despair and despondency and anxiety on

this front. There's a sense that this is

a it's likely to be a long-running

conflict and that even if we reach some

sort of moment where the actors declare

victory uh on the USIsrael Iran conflict

that that may not bring to an end the

Israel Hezbollah conflict anytime soon

and that will have significant

humanitarian implications for Lebanon

but also for the wider region. And so

this is a moment of grave peril and it's

important that the the UN the whole UN

family are here uh in support of the

people in greatest need

>> please.

>> Uh thank you so much for this briefing.

This is Namo Abdullah with Ruda. I have

one question uh for Mr. Fletcher or for

uh the other general. Sorry I forgot

your name. Uh from the UNP. So uh if uh

have you visited the uh northeast Syria

the region Rojava region and can you

give us an update on what's going on

over there because uh like late last

year we had a conflict between Damascus

forces and the Kurdishled Syrian

Democratic forces and have you been in

have you talked to the Kurdish officials

there? Thank you.

Thank you and a fair question. So sadly

not on this uh on this mission. Uh I had

to reduce the length of time that I had

uh in country in order to go and spend

uh 36 48 hours in Beirut which was

obviously for obvious reasons given the

um deterioration in the situation there.

But I have been in close contact to uh

with colleagues from that region and

indeed met um leaders of women uh

women's organizations including from

that region uh this morning. Uh so it's

a situation we're keeping under very uh

close uh monitoring. Um things do seem

to have stabilized to some degree, but I

think everyone is conscious here of the

need to ensure that inclusive political

process and to ensure that humanitarian

support and development support does

reach all corners of Syria in a fair way

on the basis of of greatest need. So I

think that we're moving in the right

direction direction. We're on the right

trajectory. Um but we cannot be

complacent.

Great. Thank you so much. Uh do we have

any other questions?

All right, gentlemen. Is there anything

you would like to add? Um I know you

have a busy schedule, so is there

anything you'd like to add uh before we

wrap up here? Thank you.

>> No, not necessarily. I I think that um

our our visit here really marks marks a

moment in um in in in we hope Syrian

Syrian's future um where um this becomes

a a country that um that offers

opportunity for for development. Uh we

see that the plans are there, the

ambition is there. Uh we need to make

sure as an international community that

at a moment when this is transitioning

from an area of problems to an area of

opportunity of a future that as an

international community we also stand

there to uh sufficiently financially

support them.

>> Absolutely right. Uh I fully agree. I

mean it's been um an encouraging

heartening visit. Uh we've noted so much

progress. Uh we noted in the

conversation with President Shah that uh

the Syrian people are extraordinarily

generous among the most generous in the

in the world in my experience and for so

long they've had to rely on the

generosity of others and the intention

and is there to go back to being that

exporter of generosity uh once again and

we really do need Syria to be that

stabilizing force in the region right

now and you know again just to underline

that this is you know we don't do these

visits all the time. Uh this is, you

know, a really important way for us to

demonstrate these uh fresh ways of

working that we are one uh UN family and

that across the humanitarian community

and the development community, we're

looking for shared solutions to the

challenges uh that we face and we hope

to be judged by our results. Thank you.

>> Thank you so much. I know it's been a

long day, so we really appreciate you

taking the time to join us today. Thank

you so much, everybody. Have a good day.