ReliefWeb

New York/QNA/31 March 2010/ Qatar makes a 20 million U.S. dollar donation to Haiti, including to the Multi-Donor Trust Funds, to overcome the grave period of its history and attain recovery, H.E. Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim Bin Jabor Al-Thani, Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs said here on Wednesday. Addressing the International Donor's Conference Towards a New Future for Haiti held at the United Nations headquarters on Wednesday, H.E. the Prime Minister said the portion of this donation was to support education, health and provision of shelter in Haiti in recognition of the importance of the right to education as a cornerstone in the success of recovery, development and the return of the country to its normal situation. "We shall continue coordinating with various stakeholders to enhance rebuilding and development in Haiti, H.E. the Premier and Foreign Minister added. H.E. the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister said Qatar was one of the first countries that had rushed to send humanitarian assistance and relief just upon receiving the news of the earthquake in Haiti . By order of H.H. Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, Emir of the State of Qatar, a team of search and rescue with full equipment was sent to Port-au-Prince along with a cargo plane loaded with 50 tons of emergency relief materials from Qatar's strategic reserve in the UN Disaster Response Warehouse Network, The relief materials included power generators, tents and blankets. Two Qatari medical team participated in the provision of medical care for the injured at field hospitals and portable clinics in Port-au-Prince, and a plan is underway to send a third team next April, H.E. the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister said. H.E. the Premier and Foreign Minister further said that Qatar Red Crescent seeks, through a humanitarian donation campaign it launched in the country, to raise more than one million U.S. dollars to support relief and recovery efforts. It hopes that humanitarian assistance shall secure makeshift shelter for some 5000 families by May, besides providing potable water to prevent the spread of epidemics, H.E. Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim Bin Jabor Al-Thani told the Conference. Presently, there are plans to provide assistance in the next stages of the situation in Haiti to include recovery, rebuilding and development, H.E. the Premier and foreign Minister said, adding that Qatar has decided to personally participate in to confirm the attention of the Government of the State of Qatar to provide humanitarian assistance.

The Qatari assistance sent to Haiti was not limited to governmental contributions, for NGOs and charitable organizations in Qatar launched campaigns to raise donations in a manifestation of the humane nature of the Qatari people, who rushed at once, as other peoples of the world have, to provide assistance to the Haitian people, H.E. the Prime Minister said. "One of the initiatives that touched me the most, and that I would like to share with you, was shen pupils and their teachers in two Qatari schools volunteered to organize an internal activity and raised the sum of 65000 U.S. dollars to contribute to relief efforts in Haiti. "We, in the State of Qatar, are proud that we are always at the forefront of countries that contribute to the provision of material and in kind humanitarian assistance in response to disasters around the world, particularly in developing countries. The State of Qatar also provides donations through United Nations Funds," H.E. Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim Bin Jabor Al-Thani said. At the outset of the speech, H.E. the Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs expressed appreciation to the United Nations Secretary General and the Governments of the United States, Brazil, Canada, France and the European Union for their initiative to convene the Donor's Conference. "I commend the tangible efforts exerted by the UN, by countries or by international charitable organizations that have promptly responded to help the Haitian people in the aftermath of the natural disaster that hit their country last January. "Such response from all over the world is truly an honorable stance by the international community in the face of the grave catastrophe that has befallen Haiti in a difficult time causing horrendous humanitarian tragedy besides dealing a decapitating blow to the country's recovery effort which were underway to relieve it from the social and economic hardships it had been suffering from as a result of instability in the past few years," H.E. the Prime Minister said. Earlier in the day, in his opening remarks, the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for the wholesale rebuilding of Haiti as he urged donors to provide $11.5 billion over the next 10 years for the reconstruction of the Caribbean nation that was devastated by a massive earthquake in January.