Samantha Power, administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) at Georgetown University in Washington. (Credit : Jim Watson/AFP)
Samantha Power, administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), arrived in Lebanon on Tuesday.
She comes for a three-day visit focused on "providing support to the Lebanese people, particularly those impacted by the country’s economic and humanitarian crisis," announced the US embassy in Lebanon in a press release.
"More than half of Lebanese households are in need of some form of food assistance– a situation that has been exacerbated by Putin’s war against Ukraine," the press release added. "This also has a negative impact on the millions of refugees Lebanon graciously continues to host."
Some 839,000 Syrian refugees are currently registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Lebanon. The exact number of Syrians in Lebanon is not known, since the Lebanese government asked the UNHCR to stop registering new refugees in 2015 during the height of the Syrian civil war. The Lebanese authorities, however, regularly cite the number as 1.5 million Syrian refugees.
During her trip, Power will meet with Lebanese government and business leaders to press for urgent reforms and policies. She will also meet with those working to combat corruption and strengthen the private sector, as well as with Lebanese and Syrian students, Syrian refugees and residents from Lebanese host communities.
Power will visit USAID projects aimed at building sustainable food systems and projects that harness renewable energy to provide drinking water to communities in need, highlighting USAID’s efforts to address the impacts of climate change.
Samantha Power will then attend COP 27 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.
