Kuwait-based charity seeks to improve international ties
KUWAIT: Kuwait’s International Islamic Charity Organization (IICO) is eager to build a closer rapport with international bodies in efforts to better serve humanity, its chairman Abdullah Al-Matouq said yesterday. Al-Matouq, who also serves as an advisor to Kuwait’s Amiri Diwan, welcomed recent deals the IICO sealed with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) to look after the victims of the conflicts in Syria, Iraq and Sudan.
Speaking to the press after its meeting with the director of the United Nations Human Settlements Program (UN-Habitat) Zena Ahmad, alongside senior UNDP advisors, Al-Matouq said that the Syrian refugee crisis remains a perennial concern given the enormity of the issue. “It is incumbent upon us to lend a helping hand to our Arab and Muslim brothers who have been victimized by war,” the Kuwaiti official emphasized. He went on to say that Kuwait’s leader His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah has always made it his mission to keep peace and security in the region intact.
The director of UN-Habitat revealed that the program, which is seeking closer cooperation with Kuwait to buoy development projects in war-torn Syria and Iraq, encompasses 18 Arab nations. She thanked Kuwait for the myriad of humanitarian endeavors the Gulf state had recently undertaken, including a conference over reconstruction in Iraq held this year.