Doha/ Information Office/ 28 August 2016/ A $12 million agreement has been signed by Khalifa bin Jassim Al-Kuwari, Director-General of Qatar Development Fund (QDF), and Fahad bin Mohamed Al-Naimi, Executive Director of Qatar Red Crescent (QRCS), to relieve the Syrian people, amid persistent bad conditions and a deteriorating humanitarian situation. This agreement represents Qatar's commitment to and interest in helping the victims of the current events in Syria, trying to alleviate the difficulties facing Syrians across the country. This QDF grant will be used to support Syrian people in various fields, including food security, agriculture, basic needs, education, health, and shelter. The urgent relief program will be implemented by QRCS, under the humanitarian response plan supervised by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). In a statement, Al-Kuwari said, "This QDF grant will help alleviate the suffering of people affected by the severe events in their country. The humanitarian situation is made even worse by the continuing war and harsh living conditions". According to him, this intervention is part of QDF's 2016 comprehensive humanitarian plan for Syria. A series of agreements were signed year-to-date, including urgent relief for the beleaguered Aleppo, together with several Qatari charities, as well as financial support for the Humanitarian Pooled Fund (HPF) designed to need the critical needs of Syrians. "QDF is happy to join hands with various Qatar charities and humanitarian organizations, notably QRCS," Al-Kuwari noted. Al-Naimi remarked, "We highly appreciate our strategic partnership with QDF in many humanitarian endeavors in Yemen, Iraq, Syria, and other countries. We reiterate our humanitarian commitment to the permanent support of our Syrian brothers, with a view to mitigating their suffering, until this crisis is over."