MADINAH: Saudi Arabia has a long history of charity and supporting impoverished people abroad, the general supervisor of KSrelief has said.
Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeeah delivered a lecture at the headquarters of the Islamic University in Madinah titled “The Efforts of Saudi Arabia in Relief and Humanitarian Works through King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center.”
He told the audience that the volume of Saudi aid between 1996 and 2021 amounted to $94.6 billion delivered to 165 countries around the world.
Al-Rabeeah recalled the humanitarian history of Saudi Arabia. He said that the Kingdom provided international humanitarian aid in 1950 to the victims of the Punjab floods, despite the limited income of the Kingdom at the time.
In 1974, the Kingdom established the Saudi Fund for Development with the aim of stimulating economic growth in developing countries, benefiting 55 countries within four years.
In 1999, the Kingdom made official donations to the victims of the Kosovo War, and in 2004 donated to victims of the Boxing Day tsunami.
The Kingdom also donated to victims of Cyclone Sidr in Bangladesh in 2007. In 2008, it made donations to the victims of the China earthquake and delivered $500 million to the UN World Food Programme — the largest donation in the program’s history.
In 2014, it used $500 million to assist displaced Iraqis.
Al-Rabeeah also reviewed King Salman’s humanitarian history. The ruler chaired several charitable committees for the benefit of Egypt, Pakistan, Sudan, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, among other countries. Al-Rabeeah said that King Salman’s history is full of giving, and that he stands as a symbol and teacher.
The supervisor general added that KSrelief was established under the guidance of King Salman in 2015 as a vehicle for relief and humanitarian work, and to convey Saudi values to the world.
Within the Kingdom, it is the only authority sanctioned to receive and deliver cash and in-kind assistance from Saudi Arabia to needy people abroad, supervise and regulate Saudi external charitable work, license local charitable institutions overseas and set governance for humanitarian work.
Al-Rabeeah said that the center’s humanitarian and relief projects amounted to 1,997 projects in 84 countries, in cooperation with 175 international, regional and local partners, for a total value of more than $5.7 billion.
Yemen received the largest share of aid, $4 billion, which covered support for education, health, nutrition, shelter, volunteering, protection, water and environmental sanitation, emergency communications, logistics and more.