Italy's overseas aid department is channelling 5.3 million euros to development programmes and 8.25 million euros for humanitarian aid in Lebanon this year, foreign minister Luigi Di Maio stated on Wednesday.
A further 500,000 euros is going to the World Health Organisation for the purchase and supply of drugs to treat children suffering from cancer, Di Maio said during parliamentary question time.
A total 3.5 million euros of Italy's humanitarian aid to Lebanon is destined for the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR), primarily to boost sanitary assistance for Syrian refugees in Lebanon.
The government also plans to give aid funding to the UN children's charity UNICEF and to the Lebanon Humanitaran Fund - a multi-donor fund managed by the UN - Di Maio told lawmakers.
Italian civil society organisations will also receive a a slice of the funding, Di Maio said.
"They play an ever-more crucial role in Lebanon at this extremely difficult time for the country," he underlined.
