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From: orangemoon_s
Sent: Friday, January 14, 2005 11:45 AM
Subject: Arab Funds Pledge to Raise Over $1bn for Tsunami
Relief Javid Hassan, Arab News RIYADH, 14 January 2005 — Arab financial institutions and funds concluded their three-day meeting here with a pledge to raise over $1 billion in funds and grants for the victims of tsunami disaster in South and Southeast Asia. In a communique, representatives of the Arab national and regional development institutions and funds expressed their solidarity with the countries and peoples of the Asian countries affected by the disaster. The members said besides financial aid they would undertake national campaigns for collection of voluntary contributions from the public to channel aid both in cash and kind to the disaster-stricken people. An upshot of the meeting was the setting up of a coordination group of Arab national regional development institutions and funds which would mobilize their resources and undertake projects as part of a pan-Arab initiative. At the meeting, held under the patronage of Prince Talal ibn Abdul Aziz, president of AGFUND (Arab Gulf Program for United Nations Development Organizations), the coordination group declared its willingness to fund the reconstruction programs of the tsunami-hit countries. It will also cooperate with the UN agencies and other international organizations working for the relief and rehabilitation of tsunami victims. The communique noted that some member institutions of the group have started sending delegations to the affected countries to evaluate the scale of disaster. These delegations will identify urgent projects to be supported by these institutions as well as projects requiring longer gestation periods, such as reconstruction of educational institutions, hospitals, water supply systems and sewerage facilities. The concluding session was attended by the eight members of the group — the Islamic Development Bank, OPEC Fund for International Development, Abu Dhabi Fund for Development, Saudi Fund for Development, Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development, Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development, Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa and AGFUND. In a related development, Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal met here on Tuesday with the ambassadors of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) and discussed the issue of mobilizing emergency assistance to the earthquake and tsunami victims who have suffered colossal human and material losses. Prince Saud conveyed to the ambassadors the Kingdom's keenness to coordinate with and consult the member countries for mobilizing the relief and rehabilitation program on a massive scale. The meeting also dwelt on the mode of assistance to the 35,000 orphans, victims of the earthquake in Indonesia. The ambassadors welcomed the Kingdom's humanitarian gesture and initiative in seeking to alleviate the human sufferings as well as extending emergency assistance to the countries devastated by the killer waves. SABB Donates SR1 Million Saudi British Bank (SABB) has donated SR1 million in support of the Kingdom's relief campaign for tsunami victims. Sheikh Abdullah Al-Hugail, chairman of SABB, said: "The board has taken the initiative on behalf of the stakeholders and participated in this campaign to ensure SABB's role in supporting humanitarian campaigns. It is also in line with the Kingdom's efforts to provide relief support wherever needed." http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1§ion=0&article=57496&d=14&m=1&y=2005 *************************************************************************** {Invite (mankind, O Muhammad ) to the Way of your Lord (i.e. Islam) with wisdom (i.e. with the Divine Inspiration and the Qur'an) and fair preaching, and argue with them in a way that is better. Truly, your Lord knows best who has gone astray from His Path, and He is the Best Aware of those who are guided.} (Holy Quran-16:125) {And who is better in speech than he who [says: "My Lord is Allah (believes in His Oneness)," and then stands straight (acts upon His Order), and] invites (men) to Allah's (Islamic Monotheism), and does righteous deeds, and says: "I am one of the Muslims."} (Holy Quran-41:33) The prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "By Allah, if Allah guides one person by you, it is better for you than the best types of camels." [al-Bukhaaree, Muslim] The prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) also said, "Whoever calls to guidance will have a reward similar to the reward of the one who follows him, without the reward of either of them being lessened at all." [Muslim, Ahmad, Aboo Daawood, an-Nasaa'ee, at-Tirmidhee, Ibn Maajah] -------------------------------------------------------------------------- All views expressed herein belong to the individuals concerned and do not in any way reflect the official views of IslamCity unless sanctioned or approved otherwise. If your mailbox clogged with mails from IslamCity, you may wish to get a daily digest of emails by logging-on to http://www.yahoogroups.com to change your mail delivery settings or email the moderators at [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the title "change to daily digest". Yahoo! Groups Links
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