Italy will give a further 2.5 million euros to Venezuela, and has already donated 3 million euros to the crisis-wracked country over the past three years, deputy foreign minister Emanuela Del Re said on Tuesday.
Del Re "stressed the seriousness of the Venezuelan humanitarian crisis and expressed her gratitude to the neighbouring countries which host Venezuelan refugees thanks to economic and regulatory measures and the solidarity of civil society organisations," said the statement.
Del Re was speaking at the Solidarity Conference on the Venezuelan Refugee and Migrant Crisis in Brussels, co-organised European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, International Organisation for Migration head Antonio Vitorino, United Nations refugee agency chief Filippo Grandi and the UNHCR/IOM joint representative for Venezuelan refugees and migrants, Eduardo Stein.
Around 150,000 Italian citizens live in Venezuela, where over 4.5 million people have fled in recent years to escape a widespread humanitarian crisis triggered by economic collapse.
A two-day solidarity conference" in Brussels pledged some 120 million euros in new support to Venezuela and its neighbours who are hosting the refugee influx, Mogherini said on Tuesday.
