UAE is world’s largest donor nation with $5.2bn aid

UAE has achieved the first position as the world’s largest donor country of official development assistance (ODA) in 2013 with the highest Official Development Assistance/Gross National Income ratio (ODA/GNI ratio) making a historic record leap in the history of foreign aid from its 19th position in 2012.

Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), in a press release, announced that based on the initial data on official development assistance (ODA) of donor countries for 2013, UAE has achieved the first position globally as the largest donor of Official Development Assistance (ODA) in proportion to its Gross National Income (GNI), as the country’s development assistance in 2013 amounted to US$ 5.2 billion.

DAC added that UAE’s foreign aid in 2013 is considered the world's largest Official Development Assistance/ Gross National Income ratio (ODA/GNI ratio) of donor countries. It noted that UAE’s foreign aid in 2013, increased by 375 per cent since 2012.

DAC said this data represent an initial analysis, adding that another announcement will be issued upon receiving the rest of the detailed data relating to the Official Development Assistance (ODA) from the other members of the committee.

Sheikha Lubna bint Khalid Al Qasimi, Minister of Development and International Co-operation extended her warmest congratulations and expressed her appreciation and gratitude to President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan; Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum; His Highness General Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, for their sound directives to provide aid and support to peoples and countries in need in 2013. She said their directives enabled UAE to achieve this high rank as the world's largest donor country in term of ODA/GNI ratio.

Minister Al Qasimi valued the direct and incessant follow up from H.H. Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs, and affirmed that his unlimited support to UAE’s foreign aid sector had enabled the country to assume its role and deliver its message in the optimal way.

She added: “UAE’s achievement of the world's first position in terms of foreign aid was not an accidental. Rather it was a the result of our wise leadership's directives and the strategic planning of the optimal way for allocating and channeling UAE’s foreign aid in order to assist peoples of poor countries and to help them achieve their Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).”

“UAE continues its work with its international donor partners in line with the directives of our wise leadership in order to enhance the sustainable development in the Third World Countries and eradicate poverty,” Minister Al Qasimi concluded.

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