Mr. Ahmet Davutoğlu, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey participated in the meeting entitled “Humanitarian Situation in Syria” held on the sidelines of G20 Summit on September 6, 2013.

David Cameron, Prime Minister of United Kingdom, Enrico Letta, Prime Minister of Italy, Jose Manuel Barroso, President of European Commission, Herman Van Rompuy, President of European Council, Laurent Fabius, Minister of Foreign Affairs of France, John Baird, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada, Taro Aso, Deputy Prime Minister of Japan, Bob Carr, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Australia, Caroline Atkinson, Deputy U.S. National Security Adviser, İbrahim Al Assaf, Finance Minister of Saudi Arabia, Al-Ahdar Al-Ibrahimi, the UN and Arab League Special Envoy to Syria and Ban Ki-moon, Secretary General of the UN also attended the meeting.

At the meeting, further action needed to help the millions of innocent people whose lives are being destroyed by the conflict in Syria was discussed. Participants received a briefing on the latest humanitarian situation and the outcome of the meeting of Syria's neighbors convened in Geneva earlier this week by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

Priority steps to be taken in response to the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Syria and neighboring countries and to deal with the consequences of chemical weapons attacks were also agreed at the meeting. In the statement released at the end of the meeting, these priority steps were listed as follows:

1. Work together to meet the worsening humanitarian crisis, including by increasing our collective humanitarian assistance between now and the UN General Assembly, building on pledges at the Lough Erne G8 summit and committed to address the grave shortfall in the UN funding target. This will help the UN and Syria's neighbors deal with the increased need inside Syria and in the region. The aim must be to provide assistance to all Syrian civilians without distinction, whether internally displaced or refugees, and to host communities in neighboring countries.



2. Increase collective support for medical and other response to the impact of chemical weapons attacks, including medicines, decontamination tents, and medical and emergency response training.



3. Secure agreement to OCHA's proposals for unfettered humanitarian access inside Syria for the ICRC and international humanitarian NGOs, including through action at the UN. Priorities include securing priority humanitarian routes to ensure aid convoys can get through safely; agreeing humanitarian pauses to ensure aid reaches the most war-torn areas and the sick and wounded can be evacuated; designating officials who can work with humanitarian agencies to resolve difficulties on the ground; lifting bureaucratic obstacles such as access to visas and NGO authorizations; approving cross border assistance; protecting humanitarian staff and equipment; and respecting humanitarian principles and impartial assistance.