Sheikha Lubna praised UAE leaders for continuing the late Sheikh Zayed's humanitarian legacy

ABU DHABI, 29th November 2015 (WAM) --- Sheikha Lubna bint Khalid Al Qasimi, Minister of International Cooperation and Development (Micad), and head of the UAE Committee for the Coordination of Humanitarian Foreign Aid, praised the UAE leaders for continuing to walk in the footsteps of the founding father of the UAE, the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, in the area of humanitarian and development aid to underprivileged people. In statements to WAM on the occasion of the 44th National Day, Minister Sheikha Lubna said the UAE provided more than Dh91.2 billion in development aid to developing countries between 1971-2004, during the presidency of the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan. She said 117 countries from benefited from the UAE's foreign aid in this period. Building on the humanitarian legacy of the late Sheikh Zayed, the UAE, led by President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, expanded its global humanitarian outreach from 2004-2013 providing Dh59.3 billion in foreign aid of which Africa received the lions share (Dh29.6 billion), followed by Asia (Dh25.54 billion). In the same period, Egypt alone received Dh19.7 billion in aid from the UAE, while Morocco was he second largest recipient of the UAE's aid with Dh4.1 billion. The late Sheikh Zayed established the Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan Charitable and Humanitarian Foundation in 1992 with a capital of Dh3.67 (US$1 billion), and before that, in 1971, he launched the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development which provided Dh9.7 in loans to other countries up to 2004, she noted. By the end of 2004, the Emirates Red Crescent provided more than Dh1.2 billion in assistance to 61 countries. Building on this legacy, Minister Al Qasimi noted, the UAE became the world’s largest donor country of official development assistance (ODA) in 2013 with the highest Official Development Assistance/Gross National Income ratio (ODA/GNI ratio) making a historic record leap in the history of foreign aid from its 19th position in 2012. The country’s development assistance in 2013 amounted to US$ 5.2 billion, according to the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The Minister further noted that the UAE was ranked first globally as the largest donor to the humanitarian crisis in Yemen during 2015, providing 31 percent of the total aid provided by countries around the world. Figures released by the Financial Tracking Service (FTS), a UN-managed database which records all reported international humanitarian aid contributions, found that the total value of humanitarian aid provided by the UAE to Yemen was Dh508.7 million (US$138.5 million) out of the Dh1.650 billion (US$449.5 million) overall global contributions. On the occasion of the 44th UAE National Day, Sheikha Lubna bint Khalid Al Qasimi, Minister of International Cooperation and Development (Micad), greeted the UAE leaders, namely President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, and Their Highnesses the Supreme Council Members and Rulers of the Emirates. – Emirates News Agency, WAM - http://www.wam.ae/en/news/emirates/1395288605057.html