During her visit to Dubai this week, First Lady and Wife of the Prime Minister of Malaysia, HE Datin Pduka Seri HJH Rosmah Mansor paid International Humanitarian City (IHC) a visit on Wednesday, November 13.

The Malaysian delegation comprised of high dignitaries from the Office of the Malaysian Prime Minister and the General Consulate of Malaysia in Dubai. IHC organized a tour at its warehouses where the First Lady and the Malaysian delegation were accompanied by IHC CEO Shaima Al Zarooni and UN member-organizations representatives. The guests were provided with an informative tour where they had the chance to observe current and on-going operations for shipments of aid to the 13 million affected people in typhoon-hit Philippines.

With the recent crisis in Philippines that has left over 10 million people in need of urgent medical relief, and 4 million people displaced, many of the international aid agencies operating from IHC in Dubai have been running aid shipment operations, and several of the organizations 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 Underprivileged Children as well as various other associations. With the strong belief of human capital development, HE Datin Paduka Seri 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 UAE and Malaysia established diplomatic relations in 1983, and have since been major trading partners with Malaysia being among the largest exporters to the UAE. The two countries are now looking into development and humanitarian channels of communication and opportunities of collaboration.

IHC has been operating from Dubai since HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE, and Ruler of Dubai 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 South-east Asia, the recurring drought in the Horn of Africa, civil unrest in Afghanistan and Darfur, the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, 2011 unrest in North Africa, the on-going crisis in Syria and the devastating typhoon in Philippines.