UN and Qatar sign Humanitarian Partnership Agreement

(Doha, 10 April 2012) – The UN and the State of Qatar have signed a humanitarian partnership agreement to expand collaboration and strengthen joint coordination and response to humanitarian crises. The agreement is the first of its kind in the Gulf region.

The Letter of Understanding was signed on 5 April in Doha by H.E. Sheikh Ahmed Bin Mohammed Bin Jabr Al Thani, Minister's Assistant for International Cooperation in Qatar, and Valerie Amos, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, at their joint briefing on the global Humanitarian Appeal for 2012.

The agreement specifies that Qatar and the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) will consult each other in areas such as humanitarian coordination and policy, information management and fund raising for disaster response.

To build humanitarian capacity, OCHA also extended a standing invitation to Qatari experts to attend sessions organized by OCHA in disaster management and disaster risk reduction. Qatar and OCHA will also work jointly to promote humanitarian principles, protection of civilians and safety of humanitarian workers.

Qatar already participates in international humanitarian cooperation forums such as the International Search and Rescue Advisory Group (INSARAG) and is a member of the advisory group for the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF). In addition, the Qatar Charity is a signatory to the Stand-By Partnership Agreement which enables national aid workers to be deployed to major humanitarian emergencies around the world through the UN.

For further information, please call:

Khaled Khalifa, Head of OCHA Gulf Office, Khalifa1@un.org, +971506548254;

Jens Laerke, OCHA-Cairo +20 19 555 8662, laerke@un.org;

OCHA press releases are available at http://ochaonline.un.org or www.reliefweb.int.

For more information about CERF, please see http://cerf.un.org