JEDDAH, 16 December 2004 — A conference of charity organizations currently under way in the city of Alkhobar was told the Eastern Province would soon witness the launch of a major housing project to provide homes for the poor. Eastern Province Governor Prince Muhammad ibn Fahd told the gathering that under the project 2,000 houses will be built for the poor and needy in the region.

Addressing the conference which opened on Tuesday, Prince Muhammad praised charity bodies in the Kingdom saying they were doing a commendable job to the satisfaction of everyone in the country.

The conference is being attended by representatives of philanthropic associations from all over the Eastern Province to discuss the prospects for charity work in light of the constraints facing Islamic charities under the prevailing conditions.

Minister of Labor Dr. Ali Al-Namlah said the number of charity bodies in the Kingdom was on the rise and that 306 such organizations are currently active in the country including 25 run by women and 38 operating on a private basis. The combined revenues of these societies exceed SR1.34 billion ($357 million). He described the road to charity as a long and extremely difficult one but appeared upbeat about the public and private support that charity organizations continue to receive.

He said the ministry was keen on ensuring that charities operate under strict regulations and would not allow charity work to be infiltrated by some having underlying purposes. In a move intended to streamline Saudi charities abroad, the government last year dissolved Al-Haramain Foundation, which has been accused by the United States of funding terrorism.

The management of the foundation was asked to close its doors, shut down its foreign offices and dismiss its personnel, who at one point numbered 5,000, most of them volunteers, working to assist the poor all over the world. Al-Haramain figured among a number of Muslim charities accused by Washington of financing terrorism after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

The foundation and other private groups that have been dissolved had their international operations and assets folded into a new body named the Saudi National Commission for Charitable Work Abroad. Saudi officials said the commission would be subject to strict financial legal oversight, and will operate according to clear policies to ensure that charitable funds intended to help the needy are not misused.

Two years ago the government set up the Charitable Fund to Combat Poverty following the visit of Crown Prince Abdullah to a slum area in Riyadh when he called for a national strategy to wipe out poverty in the country.

Dr. Al-Namlah told the Alkhobar conference that the fund has now changed its name to National Charitable Fund and that it is currently implementing five national projects to fight poverty and reintegrate needy families in different parts of the Kingdom.