NEW YORK CITY: As governments scramble to close a multitrillion-dollar funding gap threatening the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, Saudi Arabia is promoting a solution rooted not in modern finance but in a 1,400-year-old Islamic tradition.
Presenting its third Voluntary National Review at the UN High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development this week, the Kingdom’s General Authority for Awqaf argued that the waqf — the Islamic charitable endowment — could become a powerful tool for financing sustainable development.
The authority participated as part of the Saudi delegation to the forum, running July 7-15 in New York, where 36 countries presented their VNRs this year.
For the first time, the role of endowments and their contribution to sustainable development has been included in the Kingdom’s national review, according to Tufeeq Alghamdi, general manager of empowerment and development at the General Authority for Awqaf.
“This participation gains significance as it is the first time that the role of endowments and their contribution to sustainable development have been highlighted within the Kingdom’s VNRs,” Alghamdi told Arab News.
