Najdi I remember the global food crisis of 2008. Josette Sheeran, the Executive Director of the UN World Food Program (WFP), painted a gloomy picture about the world body's inability to handle food aid worldwide especially in disaster-prone areas, owing to the credit crunch faced by UN agencies. At that time, they estimated a shortfall of $500 million which had resulted owing to the extraordinary rise in commodity prices and the weakening of the US dollar. This figure climbed to $750 million within a few weeks. ?There were frantic appeals by UN agencies, the WFP and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) including the World Bank President Robert Zoellick and the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon for people “to put their money where their mouth was”. As per UN reports, Saudi Arabia under the bold leadership of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz responded quickly with a generous contribution of $500 million. It was considered timely and very significant, as only $460 million had been pooled through meager donations from 31 other countries. The UN secretary general warmly welcomed this generous and compassionate offer from the King and termed it a “landmark” contribution. As a result of this, the gap in needed funds was closed. This also allowed an additional $214 million to be available to the WFP for other emergency food needs. ?This to me reflected a great gesture of kindness, care and compassion demonstrated by King Abdullah. The contribution from the Kingdom was considered very timely and was commended on the world stage. UN publications also lauded this compassionate gesture by the Kingdom. Unquestionably, this made me feel proud of the King and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. I must mention here that this generous act of compassion by Saudi Arabia was only one of many instances when King Abdullah has been forthcoming in extending that generous and compassionate arm of assistance to those in need. Some of these instances include: In 2005, in the aftermath of the October earthquake in northern Pakistan, King Abdullah said, “We will form a bridge for relief between Riyadh and Islamabad.” This bridge was indeed formed and put into action at the time. First came his order of emergency aid for SR500 million. It was followed by a nationwide fund-raising campaign to which he made a personal donation of SR10 million. Upon his appeal, Saudi TV organized a telethon which quickly raised more than SR140 million. It was followed by a large relief convoy of more than 100 containers with food, blankets and tents. In 2007, the WFP hailed a generous donation of US$2 million from the Kingdom for its operation in Mauritania. This aid was directed toward saving young children from the ravages of malnutrition. In 2008, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) welcomed a US$5 million donation by the Kingdom in support of its operations for Iraqi refugees in Syria and Jordan. The donation came as a response to the UNHCR's humanitarian appeal issued in that year to fund the agency's programs assisting Iraqi refugees In 2009, Saudi Arabia's US$100 million pledge to the UN for the specific purpose of meeting the needs of some 2.7 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) in northern Pakistan, was the largest single contribution by any nation to the UNHCR. In 2009, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) welcomed a US$30 million contribution from the Kingdom to eradicate polio worldwide. In 2010, Saudi Arabia donated 15 tons of dates to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon. The donation came in time for Ramadan, when the daily fast is traditionally broken with the eating of dates. In 2010, the WFP welcomed a donation from the Kingdom of 1,098 metric tons of dates valued at US$3.6 million. According to a news release by the WFP, the donation was used to assist refugees and school children in Ethiopia. In 2010, during the devastating floods in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia was the single largest aid donor in real terms. The Kingdom's commitment to helping the victims of Pakistan's devastating floods exceeded US$140 million. Additionally the Saudi military also set up an air bridge between the Kingdom and Pakistan with 30 large cargo planes carrying hundreds of tons of relief goods to flood hit areas. King Abdullah inaugurated the fund-raising campaign with a personal donation of SR20 million, followed by SR10 million from the late Prince Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz and SR5 million from Prince Naif Bin Abdul Aziz, the minister of interior at the time. The people of Saudi Arabia responding to their King donated generously and more than US$120 million was collected in cash during the first three days of a Kingdom-wide telethon. It has also been established by the United Nations that Saudi Arabia is the largest international donor to humanitarian appeals when donations are measured against the national economy. The Kingdom gave 0.19 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) to humanitarian funding, Sweden which gave 0.14 percent of its national product and Norway with 0.13, followed in the list of top donor countries. Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates were also large proportional donors. The United States came in 19th on the list, having donated 0.02 percent of GDP in 2008. These figures were recently released by the United Nations. All of this speaks volumes about the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and King Abdullah, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, and his kindness, care and compassion for all the people of the world.Faiz Al-Najdi is a Riyadh-based engineer, writer and columnist. He can be reached at [email protected]. __
