First lady of Malaysia visits IHC

Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, Wife of the Prime Minister of Malaysia and First Lady, paid a visit to the International Humanitarian City (IHC) during her tour of Dubai this week. The Malaysian delegation was comprised of high dignitaries from the Office of the Malaysian Prime Minister and the General Consulate of Malaysia in Dubai. IHC organised a tour of its warehouses, where the First Lady and the Malaysian delegation were accompanied by IHC CEO, Shaima Al Zarooni, and UN member-organisations' representatives. The guests had the chance to observe current and on-going operations for shipments of aid to the affected 13 million people in typhoon-hit Philippines. With the recent crisis in Philippines that has left millions of people in need of urgent medical relief, and over 4 million displaced, many of the international aid agencies operating from IHC in Dubai have been running aid shipment operations, and several of the organisations are collaborating with branches in Malaysia. As the wife of the Prime Minister of Malaysia, the First Lady is involved in many social causes and holds various posts such as the President of the Welfare Association of Minister's Wives (BAKTI), Patron for associations like the Malaysia Aids Council, National Heart Institute Foundation, Foundation for the Under-privileged Children as well as various other associations. With the strong belief of human capital development, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor advocates the investment of nations in children and women, and she is active in several programmes focused on the education and care of children as well as issues of social and economic empowerment of women. The U.A.E. and Malaysia established diplomatic relations in 1983 and have since been major trading partners, with Malaysia being among the largest exporters to the U.A.E.. The two countries are now looking into development and humanitarian channels of communication and opportunities of collaboration. IHC has been operating from Dubai since Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, established it in 2003 and has helped deliver aid in some of the worst humanitarian crises of the past decade, including the 2004 tsunami in Southeast Asia, the recurring drought in the Horn of Africa, civil unrest in Afghanistan and Darfur, the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, the 2011 unrest in North Africa, the on-going crisis in Syria and the devastating typhoon in the Philippines.