Canada pledged Wednesday to accept more Syrian refugees, answering a UN call for countries to find space for about 500,000 Syrians by the end of 2018.

Canada pledged Wednesday to accept more Syrian refugees, answering a UN call for countries to find space for about 500,000 Syrians by the end of 2018.

Immigration Minister John McCallum made the promise in Geneva where representatives of more than 90 countries are attending a UN meeting on the refugee crisis.

McCallum also pledged Canadian support for the UN’s efforts to get other countries to accept refugees.

Since the UN first put out a plea for resettlement of refugees in June 2013, Canada has accepted 29,300, according to the Canadian News Wire service.

Canada did not put a number on the total of refugees it would accept but instead will release the figure later this year when the government puts into place a new two-year immigration plan.

McCallum suggested that the number should be significant. “We will continue to pursue solutions to ensure the humanitarian treatment and resettlement of Syrian refugees,” he said at the Geneva conference.

McCallum said Canada would explore the expansion of its program that brings post-secondary students to the country to continue their education and perhaps remain in Canada afterward.

“I hope this will help to initiate other such similar opportunities for refugee students in many other countries,” McCallum said.

He added that Canada will provide technical training and support for countries that wish to develop programs to accept approximately 4.2 million Syrians on the run from the five-year global war in that country.

Canada earlier promised to accept 25,000 government-assisted Syrian refugees by the end of 2016 and so far have welcomed 15,000.