Germany will give Syria €4 million (US$5.4 million) to help it cope with an increasing number of Iraqi refugees, Germany's development minister said Tuesday.
| Those'd be the refugees caused by Syria's complicity in the insurgency, right? I think I'll go out and break somebody's windows so somebody else will give me some money. |
Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul made the announcement after holding talks with Syrian President Bashar Assad at the start of a three-day visit to Syria. Speaking at a joint press conference with Abdullah Dardari, the Syrian deputy premier for economic affairs, she said that Germany feels the burden Syria is shouldering in hosting more than 1.5 million Iraqis.
| Maybe they should just provide bus tickets to Darmstadt or Bremerhaven. |
The German minister said that her visit - the first to Syria - adhered to the principle of "cooperation, not confrontation" as the best way for relations between states. She noted that Berlin supported Syria's bid to sign a partnership agreement with the European Union. |