WFP honours its first Saudi special ambassador

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        'caption' => 'The United Nations World Food Programme has honoured Abdulaziz Arrukban, the first Saudi citizen to have volunteered to work with the agency to raise awareness about hunger issues and funds to help alleviate it.',
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WFP Executive Director James Morris congratulated Arrukban on his role as a Special Ambassador at a meeting in Rome last week and presented him with a WFP-emblazoned field jacket and a bronze statue of a child from Uganda.

'Mr. Arrukban has worked tirelessly and hard to strengthen our relationship with Saudi Arabia and his efforts have translated into food aid that saved the lives of hungry and destitute people in various African and Asian countries,' Morris said. 'I now look forward to using his expertise in other countries and to possibly replicate this very successful experience.'

'I am delighted and honoured to have this volunteer job with such a great organization where I can also serve my country,' said Arrukban. 'It is true that I had to work hard to introduce WFP better to Saudi Arabia but it is a perfect match to start with. Saudi Arabia is now rightfully branded as 'The Kingdom of Humanity' because it has given over the past 30 years tens of billion dollars in development aid and soft loans including US$5 billion in humanitarian aid.'

Arrukban is currently accompanying HRH Saudi Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal on a visit to Kenya.

Arrukban is a US-educated Saudi businessman who went to high school in California at the age of 14. It was as a college student in Georgia studying international business that he was able to get his first taste of charity work.

'I used to join charity groups and hospitals to bring meals to the elderly and homeless during the traditional holidays like Thanksgiving, when most people are with their families,' said Arrukban.

After graduating, he worked in the transport sector in the United States but eventually moved back home to Riyadh to manage one of Saudi Arabia's largest transportation companies. 'I learned a lot from the United States and I wanted to go back and share it with my country.'

The urge to help others continued so he volunteered his free time to work with various Saudi humanitarian organizations. It was in Sudan working for Saudi relief efforts that he saw WFP in action and felt he could do more to help by working with the food aid agency.

So far in 2006, Saudi Arabia has given WFP over US$10 million for projects in Pakistan, Cambodia and the Horn of Africa. 'The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is working with everyone in the world. It makes me proud to be a Saudi citizen and the first to work with WFP,' Arrukban said.