UAE’s foreign aid between 2010-2021 reached Dhs206 billion

Gulf Today, Staff Reporter

The value of foreign aid provided by the UAE during the period from 2010 to 2021 amounted to about Dhs206.034 billion (equivalent to $56.14 billion).

The UAE vows to continue its commitment to advance global peace and prosperity efforts, and the provision of humanitarian, charitable and development assistance in various developing countries.

It was learnt that that aid was given to the 50 least developed countries.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MoFAIC) released the data.

The data highlights the fact that the UAE has maintained its high rate of official developmental assistance, and was ranked the world’s leading aid donor for four consecutive years.

The ministry said that the UAE's foreign aid consists of three key categories:

Development
Humanitarian
Charitable

Development assistance provided by the UAE accounts for about 87.7 per cent of the total value of its foreign aid, while humanitarian and charitable aid accounted for 9.9 per cent and 2.4 per cent, respectively.

According to the report, the UAE's foreign aid covers 25 key sectors and 131 subsectors.

The report covered the geographic distribution of foreign between 2010 to 2021. It highlight that nearly half of it was for African countries that is 40%.

Europe, America and Oceania were almost 5%, while multilateral organizations and programmes receive about 5% of the total.

 The report highlights the UAE's interest in empowering women in priority areas through foreign aid policies.

In 2018, the country launched the 100% Women Policy, according to which, by 2021, the foreign aid will focus on the empowerment of women and gender equality.

According to the report, from 2016 to 2020, over Dhs6.17 billion ($1.68 billion) was allocated to empower and protect women, which is 6.2% of total UAE foreign aid.

Furthermore, the report addressed the UAE’s support for the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), and its pledge to provide Dhs367 million (around $100 million) during donor conference in Dakar in 2018, which was paid out over three phases from 2018 to 2020, supporting education in 90 countries.

In July 2021, the UAE also pledged to provide the same amount to support a strategic global partnership plan for education over the next five years.