NEW YORK —The third meeting of the donor group to support the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) was held at the United Nations headquarters here.

The meeting was presided over by the head of the group, the representative of the Kingdom to the group, Assistant Supervisor General of the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre (KSrelief) Dr. Aqeel bin Juman Al-Ghamdi.

The agenda for the meeting covered three axes: emerging humanitarian needs and challenges for 2023, the OCHA strategic plan, and the OCHA general budget for 2023.

Dr. Aqeel Al-Ghamdi gave a presentation at the start of the meeting on the global humanitarian needs as seen in the Global Survey of Human Needs report for 2023, which was released by the OCHA office in early December and launched from the capital, Riyadh, in addition to Geneva and Addis Ababa.

The report touched on the topic of food security and the repercussions of its absence, pointing out that one in every 23 people in the globe requires humanitarian relief.

In response to the strategic plan of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs for the years 2023–2026, he continued: "There are more people who will suffer due to the high costs of food, energy, and fertilizers."

This was well received by the group's participants as their comments highlighted the significance of a more effective and efficient humanitarian system for the response. — SPA