UAE partakes in discussions about Declaration on the Right to Development

The Permanent Representative of the UAE to the UN and other international organisations in Geneva, Ambassador Obaid Salim Al Zaabi, has welcomed a high-level discussion on the promotion and protection of the right to development as an opportunity to review the progress of relevant work. 

He said," International cooperation is completely meaningless if advanced nations shackle it with political conditions and economic restraints that prevent the complete achievement of the right provided for in the Declaration on the Right to Development and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and other charters." 

"The UAE has a firm conviction that without development, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to achieve other rights," he said in a speech at the panel discussion. 

The panel discussion was held by the United Nations Human Rights Council on 13th June by the Human Rights Council to commemorate the thirtieth anniversary of the on the Declaration on Right to Development. 

Al Zaabi said, "Regardless of how responsible poor countries are for realising the right to development, awareness of all stakeholders, including the relevant bodies of the United Nations system, United Nations specialised agencies, and funds and programmes such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, and organisations involved in development, should also be increased. 

The UAE representative praised the Declaration on the Right to Development proclaimed by the United Nations in 1986. 

Development issues, Al Zaabi added, have a special importance for the UAE's foreign policy one pillar of which is to provide unlimited and unconditional aid to other countries. Based on this strong belief, the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development was founded in 1971. The fund has so far provided US$17.6 billion in loans, shares and development grants. The UAE also supports international organisations such as the United Nations Development Programme, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco), the United Nations Children's Fund (Unesco), the World Health Organisation and the United Nations Environment Programme (Unep)." Source: WAM