Ammon News - NEW YORK (Petra) Administrator of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) Helen Clark said on Monday that the repercussions of the Syrian crisis on host communities; Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and Turkey were tremendous.

She added that the exodus of Syrians from their country threatens economic development throughout the Middle East, because neighboring nations cannot cope with the influx of refugees. "Clearly the costs on host communities and countries cannot be borne by them alone," Clark said.

Clark told a gathering in Geneva, Switzerland on solidarity with Syrian refugees and host countries, that refugee influx threatens the economies of the various regional countries affecting trade, agriculture, tourism and employment.

By the end of the year, she said, nearly 25 percent of Lebanon's population will consist of refugees. The figure has already reached 10 percent in Jordan, she added.

Clark said that while the political and humanitarian dimensions of the Syria crisis have been recognized from the outset, there is now heightened awareness that this is also a development crisis. "It will have a deep and long-lasting impact on the development and future prospects not only of Syria. Neighbouring countries' development prospects too have been seriously impacted," she said.

"The challenge now is to ensure that our collective response to this complex crisis is both humanitarian and developmental in approach. The humanitarian needs are very stark, but the developmental challenges exacerbated by the crisis in the sub-region cannot be ignored."