Mohammad Bin Zayed to be India’s chief guest
Abu Dhabi Crown Prince will attend Republic Day parade
His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, will attend India’s 68th Republic Day celebrations in New Delhi on January 26 as a chief guest.
Shaikh Mohammad will hold talks with President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He will discuss with senior Indian officials ways to strengthen cooperation and friendship between the two countries, a WAM report said.
Shaikh Mohammad will be accompanied by a highlevel delegation including a number of shaikhs, ministers, senior officials and business and economic figures.
In Abu Dhabi, the Indian Social and Cultural Centre will organise a three-day festival from January 26 to 28 at their premises to celebrate the visit of Shaikh Mohammad.
More than 30,000 people are expected to attend the UAE-India Fest, which celebrates the cultural and people-to-people ties, organisers said.
AUAE foundation involved in humanitarian projects in Afghanistan has vowed to continue its work despite a deadly terrorist attack in Kandahar that killed five Emiratis.
“We are more determined. The Fatima Bint Mohammad Bin Zayed Initiative’s (FBMI) team leadership, here in the UAE and Afghanistan, is more committed and more energised to do more to support the Afghan women in Afghanistan,” said Dawood Jabarkhyl, FBMI chairman.
The FBMI programme aims to empower Afghan women by providing them with work, weaving traditional Afghan carpets and producing embroidered furniture and local handicrafts. Eighty per cent of the total revenue goes back to these women in the form of salary, access to health care and education for their children. The goods are sold around the world in FBMI shops.
Jabarkhyl said the foundation’s operations had not changed since the blast and they still plan to expand their efforts, however they are taking more security measures.
“Nothing has changed on the business or the humanitarian and charitable work that we have invested in Afghanistan. But we are more cautious and the security department is paying more attention to our staff travelling to the provinces,” said Jabarkhyl.
To date, the FBMI has employed over 4,000 Afghans at its facilities — 70 per cent of whom are women and 35 per cent widows.
At the time of the attack, the Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation, which had one of its representatives killed in the blast, had supported FBMI to bring four of its weavers from Afghanistan to the UAE to take part in the Shaikh Zayed Heritage Festival in Abu Dhabi.
One woman who is participating in the festival told Gulf News she was devastated to hear about the terror attack.
“We were very upset and heart-broken when we heard about what happened in Kandahar. Why would they do this to people who are trying to help us?” said Sharifeh.
The 33-year-old who could be found weaving a carpet at the FBMI stand in the Afghanistan Pavilion with her two sisters and brother until the end of the festival, said they are very grateful for the opportunity that they have been given.
Sharifeh said she has been working for FBMI for over three years and could not ask for a better job. “My dream is to one day have peace in Afghanistan. The UAE has done much to help us and to bring peace, hopefully we will get there one day.”