ARABSAT congratulates the UN World Food Program (WFP) for being awarded the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize. The WFP helps more than 86 million people around the world each year. It is by far the leading international humanitarian organization saving lives in war torn and disaster ravaged countries. The WFP was recognized “for its efforts to combat hunger, for its contribution to bettering conditions for peace in conflict-affected areas and for acting as a driving force to prevent the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict”, said Berit Reiss-Andersen, chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee.
ARABSAT is proud to be part of the WFP humanitarian efforts on the technology support front. In 2015, ARABSAT along with other leading satellite operators and international agencies, signed a Crisis Connectivity Charter (CCC) which was organized and managed by the Emergency Telecommunications Cluster (ETC). The WFP leads the ETC, which provides timely and reliable telecommunications services in crisis areas.
Through the Charter, ARABSAT has contributed emergency communication equipment that can be easily deployed in disaster hit areas and has allocated the necessary satellite communication capacity to the ETC for a timely and critical end-to-end connectivity which can save lives and reduce human suffering.
Mr. Khalid Balkheyour, President and CEO of Arabsat, said “it is heart-warming to see the Nobel Peace Prize committee honor an international humanitarian organization which means acknowledging and recognizing the efforts of thousands of unnamed soldiers who go above and beyond to combat hunger and ease the suffering of millions of people around the world. Arabsat is humbled to play a small part in helping these soldiers do their humanitarian work”