Kuwait Ambassador in Baghdad Salem Al-Zamanan speaks during the distribution ceremony. — KUNA photos

BAGHDAD: 'Kuwait Besides You Campaign', funded by the Kuwait Society for Relief, has distributed in-kind aid and equipment to displaced Iraqi widows to help them have their businesses. The aid was doled out in a ceremony held at Iraqi Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs in the presence of Kuwait Ambassador in Baghdad Salem Al-Zamanan and Secretary General of the Iraqi Cabinet Mahdi Al-Alaq. Addressing the audience, Al-Zamanan pointed out that 2,500 women from the five Iraqi governorates of Baghdad, Anbar, Saladin, Diyala, and Nineveh benefited from the project. The goal is to economically empower the widows and help them have a permanent source of income for their families, Al-Zamanan said.

He unveiled that the beneficiaries would launch poultry breeding, beauty salons for women, dressmaking, and bakery businesses. The ambassador noted that the program to train the widows and provide them with the required equipment and kits for their enterprises have cost $1.045 million. For his part, the Secretary General of the Iraqi Cabinet Al-Alaq commended Kuwait's aid to Iraqi widows. He stressed that this aid would empower the war-traumatized widows and relieve some of their suffering. He announced that the international community with the support of Kuwait would organize an international conference for rebuilding Iraq in the coming period.

Also, the 'Kuwait beside you' campaign yesterday delivered food supplies to displaced people in northern city of Mosul in Iraq. The United Iraqi Medical Society (UIMS), the local partner of the KRS, said teams delivered 2,600 food baskets to relocated people, currently settled at Haj Ali camp. Chairman of UIMS Dr Ahmad Al-Hayti said that the supplies were handed over under supervision of Nineveh Governor Nofal Hammadi and Iraqi parliament member Zahed Al-Khatoni. Kuwait has recently established a number of health centers and schools in Mosul for the displaced people there. - Agencies