The ninth International Zayed Charity Marathon, which kicked off on Saturday in New York City, USA, to raise awareness about kidney disease and funds to support life-saving programmes, was hailed as a further enhancement to the UAE’s global humanitarian stature. The event is a testament to the UAE leadership’s interest in providing aid to all those in need around the world regardless of their race, national origin, sex, colour, faith or creed.

The charity marathon was inaugurated in 2005 by General Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, as an awareness and tribute event to the late founding father Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan. It honours the Arab and Islamic values of the fathers and grandfathers in the UAE and continues to earn the UAE respect and appreciation from all the peace-loving nations, according to the Akhbar Al Sa’aa (news of the hour) daily bulletin of the Emirates Centre for Strategic Studies and Research (ECSSR).

The event, which is an initiative of Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, conveys the UAE leadership’s message of respect for human rights and basic freedoms for all people around the world, it remarked. The UAE’s foreign humanitarian aid is an integral part of its foreign policy, the bulletin noted, adding that last Tuesday at the Somalia Conference 2013 in London, the UAE pledged Dhs183 million in aid for Somalia.

This was done under the directives by President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Also known as the UAE Healthy Kidney 10K, the marathon was launched in presence of UAE senior officials, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, members of diplomatic missions, artists, cultural personalities, athletes and tens of thousands of runners from the USA and abroad. The event is hosted by the non-profit New York Road Runners Foundation (NYRR), one of New York City’s leading not-for-profit providers of physical education.

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