UN supports us getting aid for refugees: UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi pledged to campaign for Cairo to receive more bilateral development aid to support its efforts in hosting refugees at a press conference on Monday, following his meeting with President Abdel Fattah El Sisi, at the end of his two-day visit to Egypt, reports the Guardian. Egypt currently hosts a reported 242,000 refugees, and the value of UNHCR programs in the country in 2017 ranged from USD 40-50 mn, a figure described by Grandi as “insufficient.” Saying that he, like so many refugees, would do “anything” to escape a holding camp of the kind set up in Libya, Grandi praised Egypt for its determination not to set up such camps and urged the world’s wealthiest nations to offer sufficient funding to support the efforts of host countries.

Background: For past two years, Egypt and the EU have been dancing around an agreement which would see the latter increase aid and support in exchange for holding more refugees and migrants attempting to move to Europe. The agreements appears more tangible by the day, the policy appears to gain favor among EU countries, who have begun holding talks to ink such an agreement.