BEIRUT(Xinhua) — The French Development Agency (AFD) signed on Thursday a financing agreement valued at 20 million euros (22.2 million U.S. dollars) with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to support Lebanon’s Rafik Hariri University Hospital. French Ambassador to Lebanon Bruno Foucher, AFD Country Director for Lebanon and Syria Olivier Ray, and Christophe Martin, head of the ICRC delegation in Lebanon, attended the signing ceremony. This partnership was capable in the past to secure medical care for 13,000 patients of different nationalities in addition to implementing 26 projects to improve the healthcare at the hospital and working conditions of its employees. “Our partnership with the ICRC allows us to help the most vulnerable patients and at the same time develop the local institution which ensures our durability,” said Firas Abiad, general manager of Rafik Hariri University Hospital.