Colombo, June 21 (PTI) Australia will provide a 22 million Australian dollar for emergency food assistance to economic crisis hit Sri Lanka, a release said.

This was revealed during the visit of the Australian Minister of Home Affairs Clare O'Neil on Monday. She met President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.

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“We will contribute an immediate $22 million to the World Food Programme for emergency food assistance to help three million people in Sri Lanka meet their daily nutritional needs. Australia will also provide $23 million in development assistance to Sri Lanka in 2022-23," a release said.

It will support health services, and economic recovery with a strong emphasis on protecting those at risk, especially women and girls, the release said.

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"These contributions are in addition to $5 million recently provided to United Nations agencies for Sri Lanka,” the release said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)