JEDDAH, 22 September 2003 — The regional relief organization Arab Aid has provided more than $70 billion to fight poverty all over the world in the last 30 years.
Prince Talal, president of the Arab Gulf Program for United Nations Development Institutions (AGFUND), told a seminar organized by Arab Aid in Dubai on Saturday that the eight-member organization had provided the record sum to 147 countries over 30 years.
“Fighting poverty has always been one of the main objectives of Arab Aid as it allocated hundreds of millions of dollars for projects aimed at fighting poverty around the world,” the prince said.
In addition to AGFUND, Arab Aid consists of the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development, the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development, the Saudi Fund for Development, the Islamic Development Bank, the OPEC Fund for International Development, the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development and the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa.
Prince Talal said Arab donors constituted one of the world’s largest donor groups. “Even today they consistently outstrip the recommended norms set by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in terms of official development assistance as a percentage of GNP,” he said.
“At 0.85 percent their contributions far surpass the 0.3 percent provided by Western donors and even the internationally accepted target of 0.7 percent,” he added.
