NEW YORK: Kuwait called on the international community to combine efforts and enhance joint action to address poverty in light of the challenges the world is witnessing in the global food and economic crises. This came in Kuwait’s speech delivered by diplomatic attache Fatema Al-Mezyad of the Kuwait permanent delegation to the United Nations on Wednesday evening before the General Assembly Second Committee.
Kuwait has made great efforts to eradicate poverty by providing government support based on justice aimed at enhancing social cohesion and focusing in particular on reaching all those in need in all segments of society, she said. The country’s constitution emphasized social solidarity and guaranteed the right to well-being for all, which made the country keen to play an effective role in the field of social care and protection, Al-Mezyad added.
In this regard, Al-Mezyad brought up the work of the Kuwait Ministry of Social Affairs, as it is the body responsible for ensuring social care and development within the national program to reduce poverty, which includes providing grants and monthly social assistance, which reflects the country’s efforts to achieve "a world free of poverty.”
Kuwait has spared no effort in providing assistance to developing countries through its official and unofficial institutions to alleviate human suffering in various parts of the world, she said. Al-Mezyad added that the Kuwait Fund for Economic Development, which for six decades has been providing aid and grants that have benefited more than 100 countries through soft loans worth more than $21 billion, reflects Kuwait’s humanitarian history of providing development aid.
The indicators of decline in implementing the sustainable development goals for 2030 require concerted international efforts and enhanced joint action among countries to eliminate poverty, she said. - KUNA