HRH Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein Takes CNN’S Richard Quest On A Tour Of IHC

In a rare interview Her Royal Highness Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein takes CNN’s Richard Quest on a tour of Dubai’s International Humanitarian City, the largest humanitarian hub on the planet.

Princess Haya explains that from here aid can be sent “anywhere in the world, within 8 hours.”

She says that providing aid to those in crisis is “never well done, until it’s over.”

Key Quotes:

“We’ve got 70 members, including UN agencies, NGOs, different charities and they store all their stock here and we facilitate and help coordinate in emergencies…We supply for any humanitarian emergency whether it’s a natural disaster or manmade and we respond in a completely apolitical manner.”

“There wasn’t anything like this in existence, so to speak. We have the sea right next to us and we’ve got the port, we’ve got the airport next to us, we can move from sea to air in 7mins to be able to deliver – and logistics, yes, it’s a signature of Dubai.” On how the logistics mobilisation process works:

“As soon as [IHC CEO] Giuseppe [Saba] calls me and says WFP needs a plane to go to Bangladesh, UNHCR needs to send something to wherever, within minutes I’m calling Sheikh Mohammed, I’m asking him for permission to mobilise the aircraft.”

“I’m really proud of what he does and what the government of the UAE do, and what I’m allowed to do, but I don’t think any of the leadership here feels that they can pat themselves on the back and say it’s a job well done – the nature of what we’re dealing with, it’s never well done until it’s over.”

The interview was aired in full on Quest Express on CNN on 26 February 2018.

Click here to watch it

For more information, visit ihc.ae