‘This is the key moment to bring peace to Gaza and the Middle East’: UNOPS chief

The EU is adapting to a new security situation, not just on its own continent, but also in the Middle East. Hopes of a more peaceful Syria after the ouster of Bashar al-Assad have so far been dashed, with sectarian massacres happening on the Syrian coast earlier in March – killings that have triggered an exodus of thousands of people across the border into Lebanon. Lebanon itself remains extremely fragile, economically and socially. And the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza is clearly far from over, despite a ceasefire that was announced in January. The EU is working with the United Nations to address the challenges of humanitarian aid and reconstruction in this volatile region, and our guest has a lot of first-hand experience in that domain. Jorge Moreira da Silva is the executive director of UNOPS, the United Nations agency dedicated to implementing humanitarian and development projects. He is a former Member of the European Parliament, a former senior official at the OECD in Paris, and a former minister of environment and energy in the Portuguese government.