Iraq’s largest Christian city will be rebuilt as part of Hungarian-US cooperation. The project will be implemented on the basis of Hungary’s humanitarian policy which holds that we take help where there is trouble, not bring trouble here.
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is working together with the Hungarian government’s Hungary Helps Programme in the interest of the rebirth of the City of Qaraqosh devastated by the Islamic State.
As a result of a memorandum of understanding signed by the Hungarian and US parties last December and the meeting of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and US President Donald Trump in May, the United States Agency for International Development has joined the Hungarian efforts to rebuild the City of Qaraqosh which is one of the ancient centres of the Christian community in Iraq. USAID’s first project in Qaraqosh to the value of USD 330,000 set out to rebuild St. George’s Commercial Centre. Beyond the restoration of the commercial centre, the grants allocated for the project also serve to boost the local economy.
In the past almost three years, Hungary has made donations worth USD 1.4 million in total to the Syriac Catholic Diocese in Qaraqosh via the Hungary Helps Programme. The sum has been used for the clearing away of rubble, demining and the reconstruction of residential buildings.