KUWAIT CITY, Dec 1, (KUNA): UN Secretary General’s Envoy for Humanitarian Affairs and Amiri Diwan Advisor Dr Abdulla Al- Matouq said on Monday that the ongoing humanitarian conference in the country aims to bolster efforts to cope with humanitarian crises. The 6th Conference on Effective Partnership and Information Sharing for Better Humanitarian Action kicks off Monday against the backdrop of Kuwait being named the capital of Islamic Culture for the year 2016. Al-Matouq noted that the humanitarian conference should be utilized as a forum to exchange ideas on different strategies that would help make the world better equipped to deal with humanitarian crises.

CombatThe UN Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs pinpointed the dire humanitarian conditions in Syria and Yemen as catalysts that helped bring organizations together to combat worsening humanitarian conditions around the world. Al-Matouq also lauded endless Kuwaiti contributions to humanitarian causes, underscoring increased cooperation as one of key issues to be discussed at the conference.

Moreover, Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Secretary General Abdullatif Al-Zayani thanked Kuwait for its persistent efforts in promoting unity among Gulf countries. Al-Zayani also applauded Kuwait for hosting such a monumental conference, saying he remains hopeful that the conference would help bring progress in the battle against humanitarian suffering. Al-Zayani pointed out that the GCC states have exerted relentless efforts to ease the suffering of refugees.

He cited as an example Kuwait’s hosting of three international aid pledging conferences for Syria where the GCC states donated about USD four billion. He added that Gulf countries have also sent aid-loaded planes and trucks to the neighboring countries which hosts considerable numbers of Syrian refugees, namely Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and Iraq. The GCC states have rushed to the help of Yemeni people who fled their neighborhoods and homes to escape the violence of Houthi rebels, Al-Zayani said. He stated that the Saudi government has established a special humanitarian aid coordination center and donated one billion riyals to cater for the displaced Yemenis. Furthermore, the GCC Red Crescent societies have intensified their efforts to allow easy access to the war-traumatized Yemeni across the country, he said.

RoleMeanwhile, UN Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Stephen O’Brien expressed great appreciation of Kuwait’s humanitarian role in the region. He described Kuwaiti people as a humanitarian actionloving people. O’Brien estimated that the Gulf states contributions to the humanitarian aid in the Yemen, Syria and Iraq at about USD 2.5 billion in fiscal year 2014-15. He lauded the significant role of the Kuwait-based International Islamic Charitable Organization (IICO) and the Kuwait-based Direct Aid in boosting humanitarian work regionally and internationally. For his part, Direct Aid Board Chairman Dr Abdulrahman Saleh Al- Muhailan underlined that Direct Aid is eager on continuing the humanitarian and relief aid to people in distress across the globe, especially those in the Africa continent. He unveiled that his organization prioritizes human resources development with a view to preparing qualified and highly-skilled national cadres to carry the torch of humanitarian action in the future. Al-Muhailan hoped the conference would end up with a slew of decision and recommendations to live up to expectation and to help overcoming the growing challenges.