RIYADH, 23 October — Crown Prince Abdullah, deputy premier and commander of the National Guard, yesterday opened the first forum for Islamic charities in the Kingdom.
Addressing the forum, Labor and Social Affairs Minister Dr. Ali Al-Namlah told local charities to make their activities more transparent.
"This gathering...aims to facilitate charities’ work and achieve increased clarity, transparency and responsibility," he said.
Al-Namlah highlighted the government’s generous support for social and humanitarian projects and activities. He also commended the Kingdom’s 264 charitable organizations for helping the poor, but said: "when the number of charities rose and the scope of their activities widened...it became suitable for the state to supervise their work." "The (labor and social affairs) ministry is keen on ensuring that the activities of these institutions are carried out within the framework of the goals set by their founders and in line with regulations."
He said the charitable organizations and societies in the Kingdom have annual revenues estimated at more than SR1.2 billion and assets worth SR2.6 billion.
Al-Namlah said the forum was also aimed at reorganizing the charitable societies’ activities and finding modern methods to develop their resources.
Prince Faisal ibn Khaled, chairman of the board of trustees of King Khaled Charitable Foundation (KKCF) which organized the forum, noted KKCF’s efforts to develop the self-sustaining capabilities of the poor and needy, instead of just providing them with financial help.
The forum will discuss over the next three days problems facing charities, ways to regulate their work, coordination and long-term investments, organizers said.
The forum will focus on means to direct hundreds of millions of dollars raised by the charities to aid needy Saudis within the Kingdom.
In September, Riyadh set up the Higher Saudi Association for Relief and Charity to oversee the distribution of donations and guarantee they are channelled to the needy.
The charities, many run by respected Islamic organizations, are the backbone of Muslim fund-raising and relief activities throughout the world.
The charities view charges leveled against them by the US Treasury Department as politically-motivated and orchestrated by Christian neo-conservatives and their Zionist allies with the aim of stopping Islamic benevolent work.
Sheikh Saleh Al-Hosain, chief of the Presidency for the Two Holy Mosques Affairs, highlighted the government’s support for charitable organizations. "The state provides a generous financial assistance to charitable societies at the time of their establishment, in addition to an annual aid of 80 percent of their total expenditures. It also meets nearly 80 percent of the cost of constructing the headquarters of charities," he explained.
