The United Nations’ naming of the Kuwaiti Emir, Shaikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah, as a humanitarian leader was no coincidence. Kuwait, since its independence from Britain in 1961, has never stopped providing development and humanitarian aid to scores of countries and hundreds of millions of disaffected people.

The Emir has had an active role in initiating significant assistance programmes and establishing a humanist approach. Since independence, he has held high-profile positions that has enabled him to influence decision-making and which have found their way in the issuance of important resolutions. The same year, he set up the Kuwait Fund for Economic and Social Development dedicated to providing aid and subsidies to developing countries.

While serving as foreign minister for three decades before he became the prime minister and then the Emir, Shaikh Sabah played a key role in the releases of hundreds of millions of dollars in development-related loans. The legacy continues in the stellar work done by the Kuwait Fund, and keeping in mind that there are other Kuwaiti funds and institutions operating in the same area.

The capital of the Kuwait Fund for Development, the first facility of its kind in the developing countries, has increased several times since its establishment to $6 billion (Dh22 billion) now. The financing support has extended to 850 development projects, benefiting 104 countries, including 16 Arab countries, 40 African, 19 Asian, 17 European and 11 Latin American countries.

Since infrastructure is a fundamental basis for any development, the International Monetary Fund has indicated that $1 invested in infrastructure contributes $3 to the GDP.

The Kuwaiti fund has focused on financing infrastructure projects to the extent of making up 82 per cent of the overall disbursals, of which 45 per cent is in energy, including power plants, and 37 per cent on roads and transport networks. These have in turn contributed to providing infrastructure services and encouraging further activities in various economic sectors, which would not have been not possible if the basic infrastructure was not there in the first.

Such a development strategy have in turn contributed to creating millions of jobs and improve living standards through building dozens of schools, colleges, hospitals and health care centres to world-class specifications. They have, in some cases, even out shone similar facilities in Kuwait.

Furthermore, Kuwait, like the UAE and other GCC countries, has usually taken the lead to provide aid and assistance in instances of natural disasters and for the victims of wars or other crises.

In fact, the GCC countries offer such development and humanitarian aid far removed from political goals. The assistance has been extended to both Arab and non-Arab countries, as well as Islamic and non-Islamic ones who may have different political views or approaches.

For doing so, GCC countries are recognised for their humanitarian stands. They gain international recognition and respect from countries and multilateral organisations, primarily the UN. At the same time, the assistance and subsidies provided by the GCC constitute the largest proportion of GDP from among the rich countries in the world. The percentage exceeds 2.5 per cent in many instances compared with less than 1 per cent by the developed countries.

Providing assistance to the needy has been a consistent approach adopted by the GCC and which coincided directly with the increased outflow of oil revenues. This is exactly what happened with Kuwait and the same approach was taken up by the UAE and its founder, the late Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, who placed helping others as a top priority. And the Abu Dhabi Development Fund continues to put its mettle behind dozens of development projects in various countries.