Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdul Aziz, Chairman Kingdom Holding Company, announced here Sunday the inauguration of Alwaleed Bin Talal Foundation, a charitable and philanthropic organization. Speaking at a crowded press conference, Prince Alwaleed said the foundation will be the largest endowment not only in the Middle East but “perhaps the world's biggest.” However, the Prince did not disclose the total capital, saying that it will be announced at a later date. The foundation, which received a license from Ministry of Social Affairs last year, is the third such facility chaired by Prince Alwaleed. The other two foundations located in Lebanon have been engaged in establishing educational centers, alleviating poverty, promoting inter-religious dialogue and other activities such as leadership development and relief work during natural disasters among other things. The setting up of the foundation in Riyadh is seen as the extension of Prince Alwaleed's commitment to improve charitable and humanitarian works. The entrepreneur Prince has donated around SR9 billion over the past 30-year period to this cause. The foundation has been directly involved in major projects including humanitarian aid to Saudi citizens that ranged from medical aid to providing housing units to poor families. Around 2,000 housing units have so far been provided, as part of building 10,000 residential units over a 10-year housing project for the underprivileged members of the society. Other charity activities included the distribution of 344 power generators to remote villages lighting around 41,000 homes that benefited over 200,000 citizens and translation and printing of 360,000 copies of the Noble Qur'an in 13 different languages. Based on his earlier meetings with King Abdullah, Alwaleed said, his efforts will be focused on the Kingdom's various developmental projects. He said the foundation will also encourage the gifted to achieve their goals in life. The foundation will work in coordination with a number of similar charity organizations in the country, he added. The primary objectives of the foundation will be to empower women, alleviate poverty, and upgrade services provided to the people with an emphasis on “social infrastructure” development. ‘Social infrastructure' includes the range of activities, organizations and facilities supporting the formation, development and maintenance of social relationships in a community. Alwaleed Bin Talal Foundation board of trustees are Prince Alwaleed, Board Chairman, Princess Ameerah Al-Taweel, Vice Chairperson, Muna Abu Sulayman, Secretary General, Sheikh Ali Al-Nashwan and Nada Al
