Syria conference to urge doubling of financial contributions

A Syria donors' conference in London next week will urge participating countries to double the amount of money they are giving to tackle the humanitarian crisis, Downing Street said on Wednesday.

On a call between the leaders of Britain, Germany and Norway, they agreed "that all countries in attendance should look to at least double their 2015 financial contribution to the crisis," Prime Minister David Cameron's office said in a statement.

Britain, Germany and Norway are co-hosting the event on February 4 with the United Nations and Kuwait. Leaders from around the world are expected to attend.

They will discuss how to help 13.5 million people who are either vulnerable or displaced inside Syria, as well as 4.2 million people who have fled to neighbouring countries like Jordan and Lebanon.

British officials say that current levels of funding in response to an international appeal of $8.4 billion (7.7 billion euros) has reached only $3.3 billion.

The Downing Street statement added that another aim of the conference would be "to secure an ambitious package of measures to spur economic growth and enable thousands of Syrian refugees across the region to work, as well as helping host countries deal with the impact."