UAE retains record in giving development aid
Country ranks first for third time with Dh15.23b in assistance last year
With Dh15.23 billion worth of development assistance offered in 2016, the UAE spent more on aid to develop other countries than any other nation on earth, compared to its wealth, for third consecutive year, said a new report published yesterday by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
Commending the news, His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, VicePresident and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, said in his tweet: “The UAE does not provide conditional assistance and neither does it for the sake of reciprocal interests. It does so only for the good and stability of all peoples.” The OECD announcement, Shaikh Mohammad said, coincides with the UAE’s Year of Giving, which sees the Emirati people launch new charitable initiatives every day.
Meanwhile, the UAE will give Dh500 million aid to famine-hit Somalia. The Emirates Red Crescent Authority launched an aid campaign named ‘For Your Sake, Somalia’with an initial allocation of Dh100 million for relief operations.
The UAE does not provide conditional assistance and neither does it for the sake of reciprocal interests. It does so only for the good and stability of all peoples” Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid
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March 23, 2017: Emirates Red Crescent’s aid to Yemen from April 2015 to March 2017 is valued at Dh7.3 billion. January 14: The UAE’s renewable energy development aid offered globally reached more than $900 million. October 2, 2016: The UAE allocates $50 million (Dh184 million) for the reconstruction of Mosul. April 22: The UAE pledges $4 billion in aid for Egypt. January 5: The UAE is named the world’s top donor of aid for the second consecutive year. The Dh18.36 billion worth of aid extended in 2014 constitutes 1.26 per cent of gross national income.
October 20, 2015: A monthlong campaign to collect clothes for people in Yemen was launched by Oasis Mall in collaboration with Emirates Red Crescent.
September 4: The Yemen: We Care campaign raises more than Dh500 million after an 11th-hour donation in a telethon broadcast live across the UAE.
August 23: The UAE provides aid totalling Dh744 million to become the world’s largest aid donor to Yemen in 2015.
July 11, 2015: The UAE immunises more than 20.6 million Pakistani children against polio with nearly 87 million vaccines administered as part of the Emirates Polio Campaign.
April 8: The UAE ranks as the world’s largest donor of development aid in 2014, relative to its national income. The aid provided reaches Dh18 billion, or 1.17 per cent of gross national income.
January 9: A telethon organised for Syrian refugees reeling from the effects of Snowstorm Huda raises Dh150 million.
January 3: The UAE is named the world’s largest donor of official development assistance in 2013, offering $5.4 billion (Dh19.84 billion), representing 1.34 per cent of its gross national income.