CAIRO: The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) welcomed a generous donation of dates worth close to LE 1.7 million ($285,000) from Saudi Arabia to support WFP development projects in Egypt. The official handover ceremony took place at WFP's Cairo office in the presence of the Head of the International Development Cooperation Department of the Saudi Ministry of Finance, Mohamed Ben Manahi Al-Otaibi and Councilor Magdi Al-Mansour, representing the Saudi Ambassador. “Saudi Arabia has always been supportive to our projects in Egypt and this contribution will enable us to add a highly nutritious item to our food basket,” said WFP Egypt Representative and Country Director Gianpietro Bordignon. “Dates are especially useful for children as it provides them with energy, vitamins and essential nutrients.” WFP will distribute 134 metric tons of dates to more than 34,000 children in schools in the poorest and most food-insecure areas in Upper Egypt including Fayoum, Menia, Sohag, Beni Suef and Assiut governorates. Students' families will receive the dates as part of a monthly food basket in return for regularly sending their children, especially girls, to school. WFP's school meals project in Egypt combats child labor and encourages girls' education. The remaining 70 metric tons of dates will be distributed as food rations to more than 15,000 people in newly developed areas in Upper Egypt, the Red Sea area and the High Dam Lake area. “We are glad to contribute to important development objectives in Egypt, especially education, through the largest humanitarian agency in the world, namely WFP,” said Saudi Ambassador in Egypt, His Excellency Ahmaed Abdelaziz Katan. Saudi Arabia has been supporting WFP operations in Egypt since 2007 contributing around $2.5 million worth of in-kind donations since then, which is more than 1500 metric tons of dates. Saudi Arabia is an important contributor to WFP's operations worldwide. This year the kingdom donated $50 million to support WFP's efforts in Somalia, which is suffering from famine following the worst drought in 60 years. In 2008, at the time of the high food prices crisis, WFP received $500 million from Saudi Arabia – the largest one-off donation WFP has ever received, and the Kingdom's largest-ever contribution to any UN agency. WFP honored King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, for his generous support of the agency's work.
