Saudi Arabia pledges $75 million to refugees

At a UN summit in New York on Tuesday Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef announced that his country will provide an additional $75 million to aid refugees in coordination with international aid organisations.

Speaking at an international leaders summit on refugees bin Nayef said that Saudi Arabia had already provided in excess of $800 million in support to refugees in countries neighboring Syria.

Bin Nayef also pointed out that Saudi Arabia had contributed considerable finances to other organisations not focused on relief for Syrian refugees in recent years.

Donations, said bin Naif included a $59 million pledge to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine (UNRWA), a $30 million pledge to support Afghan refugees in Pakistan, and a $50 million commitment to support Rohingya refugees provided to the Indonesian government.

At the New York summit US President Barack Obama announced that world leaders had committed to take in 360,000 refugees in 2017.

In addition more than 50 US businesses – including Facebook, Twitter and MasterCard - pledged a total of $650 million in support to 6.3 million refugees in more than 20 countries.

An estimated 65 million people worldwide have fled their homes due to persecution or in search of a better life, with around 21.3 million considered refugees by the UN Refugee Agency.