50 US firms pledge $650M for refugees, Obama says

NEW YORK (AA) – Fifty American companies pledged $650 millions to support, employ and educate refugees around the world, President Barack Obama said Tuesday.

The contributions are “designed to help empower more than 6.3 million refugees across more than 20 countries", Obama said during an address at the Leaders Summit on Refugees held at the UN.

Some of the firms include tech giants Microsoft, HP, Google; and financial heavyweights such as MasterCard, Goldman Sachs, Western Union.

"Newton Supply Company, a small business in Texas that makes handbags, is going to make 90 percent of their bags with local refugees," Obama said.

The president said the commitment would create job opportunities for more than 220,000 refugees and allow them to become more "self-sufficient" by getting online, finding housing, health care and financial services, while educational opportunities, including for children in refugee camps, would be created for more than 80,000 refugees.

"We're making sure that the least of these, the most vulnerable among us, also have hope, also have opportunity," he said.