Azernews.Az

The Russian government has allocated food assistance worth $2 million to support thousands of internally displaced people (IDPs) in Azerbaijan through the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP).
WFP has welcomed the donation and appealed to other donors for more contributions to cover the last few months of the $15.9 million operation.
The commodities - 217.5 metric tons of vegetable oil and 2,016 metric tons of wheat flour - were purchased in Russia and will help feed 75,000 of the most vulnerable IDPs for four months.
"Russia is a major regional player and we are always happy to contribute to those in need," said Nikolay Zelenuk, Department Chief in Emercom, the Russian Ministry of Emergencies, who attended an official handover ceremony at a WFP distribution site in the northwestern Barda district in the west of the country.
He was accompanied by Vasiliy Istratov, the Russian Ambassador to Azerbaijan. The event was also attended by Azerbaijani officials and WFP Azerbaijan Country Director Lynne Miller.
Since 2003, when the Russian Federation joined WFP's growing list of donors, it has provided more than $44 million worth of assistance to WFP efforts around the world.
WFP started operations in Azerbaijan in 1994 to help over half a million people who had been displaced. The government of Azerbaijan provides assistance to a large number of the IDPs and has itself donated $3 million to the WFP operation in the country.
WFP's operation extends until June 2008. Donors include Azerbaijan ($3 million); the Russian Federation ($2 million); Japan ($100,000); private donors ($69,000); and multilateral donations ($3.3 million).