RIYADH, 11 January 2005 — Eight Arab, Islamic and international organizations, on the first day of a three-day meeting yesterday, chalked out a strategy for a coordinated approach to help in the relief and rehabilitation of tsunami victims.
They will also pledge during their meeting, today and tomorrow, financial support for any initiative aimed at devising a foolproof system to forewarn about quakes and organize a rapid response to natural and manmade catastrophes.
The meeting that brought together 45 delegates from the Gulf states as well as the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) and OPEC Fund, was organized by the Arab Gulf Program for United Nations Development Organizations (AGFUND), whose President, Prince Talal, called for unified efforts to help the victims and mitigate their sufferings.
He also proposed the creation of a micro-credit mechanism as part of a pan-Arab initiative to alleviate poverty and hunger in Africa and more specifically in Palestine and Iraq. The meeting will conclude tomorrow, when it will spell out its financial commitment to the disaster victims and the size of the micro-credit fund.
Of the estimated 150,000 dead, about 94,000 are from Indonesia alone. Most of the others killed were in Sri Lanka, India and Thailand, which have Muslim minorities.
Inaugurating the meeting, Prince Talal called for the mobilization of a new Arab-African fund for poverty alleviation in Africa. He said Arab funds, which were launched 26 years ago, have benefited more than 30 countries. Prince Talal added that the aid disbursed by Arab funds for development projects is three times more than that extended by Western countries.
Pointing out that American and European influence had become pervasive in the unstable environment prevailing in the poverty-stricken countries, Prince Talal observed that one way of countering such influence was to put in place an institutional arrangement for extending micro-credits to the vulnerable sections of the population. Prince Talal was making a veiled reference to AGFUND’s program for setting up Arab banks for the poor in the Middle East.
The first such bank was established in Yemen, while other micro-credit institutions are in various stages of formation or discussion in Jordan, Lebanon, Sudan, Morocco, Syria and Mauritania. He also called for economic reforms so that the benefits of economic development could reach the poor and the needy.
Speaking to Arab News after the meeting, Mohammed A. Al-Shawi, deputy managing director of the Saudi Fund for Development (SFD), said SFD will participate in the program for reconstruction and development of the stricken areas. He said SFD will coordinate with other Arab funds in pooling their resources for an integrated approach in dealing with the unprecedented humanitarian crisis.
