Jordan, Iraq and Syria officials meet to discuss ways to help Iraqi citizens

Officials from Jordan, Iraq and Syria will meet in Amman next week to discuss ways to help Iraqi citizens displaced from their war-ravaged country.

Photo: Jordan, Iraq and Syria officials meet to discuss ways to help Iraqi citizens

Saad al-Hayyani told The Associated Press that representatives of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees will also be present.

He declined to disclose the names of the officials who will be attending or when the meeting will take place next week. UNHCR and Jordanian officials were not immediately available for comment.

Al-Hayyani said the discussions would follow up on last week's Iraq summit held at the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheik.

"The meeting will outline a policy to help the Iraqi refugees residing in Jordan and Syria," he said. He declined to elaborate.

Jordan and Syria house the bulk of an estimated 2 million displaced Iraqis, including many uprooted before the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. According to UNHCR, about 50,000 people continue to flee Iraq every month, mostly to those two Arab countries, which complain that the refugees are exhausting their limited resources.