Several UN agencies will also attend the meeting to rush aid and to map out a future strategy jointly for those African nations that have been worst hit by the famine this year.

Addressing a press conference in Riyadh Tuesday night, Saleh S. Al-Wohaibi, WAMY's secretary general, said Saudi aid agencies including NGOs have been working to save the lives of more than 10 million people fighting for survival, mainly in the arid regions of Somalia, Ethiopia, Djibouti and northern Kenya.

Al-Wohaibi was speaking during a press conference convened in Riyadh ahead of an interfaith dialogue event on Sunday in the capital. The WAMY dialogue, he said, would be attended by about 500 guests this year including 21 ambassadors and 73 other foreign diplomats as well as 170 leading businessmen and donors.

Japanese Ambassador Shigeru Endo and Argentine Ambassador Jaime Sergio Cerda will be keynote speakers. Ibrahim Al-Ghofaili, a leading Saudi businessman, will also address the audience.

Asked about the budgetary constraints faced by WAMY, which led the aid agency to downsize its operations in several Western countries, Al-Wohaibi said the international financial crisis has had an impact on charity work not only in the Gulf region but around the world.

He called on Gulf countries to contribute more to the budgets of aid organizations like WAMY.

He pointed out that "the contributions by the European countries to their NGOs range from 40 to 80 percent of the total operational budgets."

He noted that the Saudi government's financial support to WAMY has been negligible. Hence, it is increasingly becoming difficult to meet the operational costs of WAMY's 26 offices in Saudi Arabia and 38 chapters across the world. WAMY, he said, is solely dependent on the donations given by individuals and philanthropic organizations in the Kingdom.

Asked about the efforts exerted by WAMY to alleviate the sufferings of people in the Horn of Africa, especially during the holy month of Ramadan, Al-Wohaibi first expressed his profound appreciation for the generous $60 million donation made by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah. He said the OIC has formed an alliance of NGOs to provide emergency relief to Somalia and other countries hit by famine.

The main alliance partners include WAMY, the Saudi Red Crescent Society, International Islamic Relief Organization, and Islamic Solidarity Fund. The OIC alliance is working in cooperation with its partners, while they are also coordinating with UN agencies in the Horn of Africa. WAMY, today, has emerged as a major social and educational aid agency, which has about 39,000 orphans under its sponsorship program across the world. This is in addition to 2,800 scholarships granted by WAMY for poor meritorious students in several countries.