H.E. Shaima Al Zarooni, the Chief Executive Officer of the International Humanitarian City (IHC) in Dubai recently paid a visit to the Secretariat of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). H.E. Al Zarooni visited Geneva to attend the Annual Fleet Forum Conference hosted by the IFRC Global Logistics Service. The conference dedicated to the theme “Growth through Cooperation”, brought together over seventy stakeholders from the aid, development and commercial sectors, in addition to academia to stimulate a sharing of best practices in humanitarian fleet management.
As a global humanitarian hub, the IHC aims to facilitate the work of aid and development sector by providing international humanitarian actors with facilities and services. IHC addresses the specific needs of the humanitarian aid and development community, while bringing them together in a secure environment that fosters partnerships and integration. IHC believes that by co-locating, nonprofit and commercial entities, it encourages them to share best practices, increase their operational efficiencies, and improve institutional learning.
The IFRC Logistics office in Dubai is hosted by the International Humanitarian City. In January 2011, IFRC moved its Dubai logistics office and stock to IHC compound. Having free of charge office and warehouse facilities and a favorable location within the IHC premises, the Logistics office in Dubai has managed to significantly reduce its operational cost whilst improving service delivery time. The IFRC is planning to develop a new vehicle preparation centre at the new facility, which will provide specialist vehicles globally.
During her visit in Geneva, H.E. Al Zarooni also met with the IFRC Senior Managers and got a comprehensive briefing on the IFRC mission worldwide. Matthias Schmale, the IFRC Under Secretary General, expressed deep appreciation for the generous support of IHC to IFRC logistics office in Dubai. “We hope that the fruitful cooperation which we have been enjoying with the International Humanitarian City will continue to foster in the future,” he said. In return, H.E Al Zarooni presented a trophy to the Global Logistics Service, symbolizing the evolving cooperation between the parties. “Growth through collaboration – this is exactly what we aim to promote. It has been a real pleasure to be part of the Fleet Forum Conference. This visit has also provided an opportunity to get a much closer insight into the work of the IFRC and its logistics service in particular. I admired the exceptional passion by which IFRC staff talks about their work. This visit has provided me with new ideas for cooperation which we are going to explore in the future,” said H.E Al Zarooni, summing up her impressions about the visit.