UAE AID BUDGET INCREASES 43%
Humanitarian, developmental and charitable spending increased to Dh32.34bn in bid to improve lives
Spending hits Dh32.34bn as the nation stays true to its humanitarian vision,
ABU DHABI // The UAE increased foreign aid by 43 per cent last year, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation revealed yesterday.
In its report, UAE’s Foreign Aid In 2015, the ministry said the UAE spending on humanitarian, charitable and developmental forms rose to Dh32.34 billion, up from Dh22.64bn in 2014.
The goal was to help improve the living standards of individuals, regardless of their race, identity, language or religion, the ministry said.
“The UAE considers provision of aid as a humane duty and within the framework of a number of key values and principles on which the UAE’s vision was based,” said Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, in his preface to the report.
He said these values were related to “our Arab and Islamic values and approaches”, which were instilled by Sheikh Zayed, the UAE’s Founding President.
Most of UAE’s foreign aid – about 92 per cent – was directed toward development, which received Dh29.75bn. In 2014, the UAE spend Dh19.55bn on development. Humanitarian aid was Dh2.16bn, or 6.7 per cent of the total, while charitable aid stood at Dh429.1 million, about 1.3 per cent. Official development assistance last year stood at Dh16.64bn, representing 51.5 per cent of total aid, the report said.
“The UAE, through provision of foreign aid and its efforts to achieve international development cooperation, has managed areas of priority including humanitarian assistance, elimination of poverty, and support for children, and global sectorial programmes such as transportation, infrastructure, as well as supporting governments and empowerment of women,” said Reem Ibrahim Al Hashemi, Minister of State for International Cooperation. One of the country’s most high- profile examples of humanitarian aid during the year included its support of refugees and internally displaced people affected by crises and conflicts in Syria, Yemen and Iraq.
The report pointed to the diversity of the UAE’s donors last year, where government aid was ranked first at 86.1 per cent of the total at Dh27.84bn.
The aid provided by the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development was ranked second at Dh2.7bn. Khalifa bin Zayed and Nahyan Foundation provided Dh568.3m, representing 1.76 per cent of the total, while the Emirates Red Crescent provided Dh380.4m, representing about 1.2 per cent.
In its report, the ministry stressed that the UAE’s foreign aid was in line with the country’s policy of supporting the UN Millennium Development Goals. The country’s contributions towards achieving these goals last year was Dh31.87bn. The UAE had provided about Dh21.15bn towards achieving the first goal of the MDGs, eradicating hunger and extreme poverty, the report also noted.