UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday welcomed Damascus' agreement to open two additional crossing points for humanitarian aid to non-government-controlled areas in Syria, Sana News Agency reported.
Guterres held telephone talks with Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad.
"The sides discussed the progress of the delivery of humanitarian supplies for the affected population through the Bab al-Salam and Al-Rai crossings in northern Syria," the Arab republic's foreign ministry said in a statement quoted by the agency.
It said Guterres had informed the minister "of the measures taken by the UN to mobilize the necessary funding to support the Syrians affected by the disaster."
For his part, Mekdad thanked the UN secretary-general "for his personal efforts in support of the Syrian state and affirmed the government's commitment to help those affected throughout the country."
"The earthquake had more devastating consequences because it came after 12 years of the war on terrorism and the subversion of gangs," Mekdad pointed out.
In addition, he said, the reconstruction process and the restoration of economic potential were hampered by unilateral coercive sanctions from the West.
On Tuesday, Guterres announced a $397 million UN humanitarian request to help Syria for a three-month period to deal with the aftermath of the earthquake. He recalled that the world organization had already allocated $50 million for this purpose through the UN-established Central Emergency Response Fund on February 9.
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Photo: Russian Foreign Ministry
Based on materials from TASS