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Amazon To Deliver Thousands Of Iftar Meals Across The UAE
The e-commerce giant has partnered with the UAE Food Bank to deliver 50,000 kg of food during the Holy Month of Ramadan.
Amazon UAE has announced plans to continue its long-standing collaboration with the UAE Food Bank for the launch of the 2024 edition of “Iftar on Wheels”, a meal donation program supporting thousands of families in need. Now in its fourth year, the partnership will leverage Amazon’s massive fulfillment network to pack and distribute 50,000 kg of Iftar meals across the Emirates during the Holy Month of Ramadan.
Over the last four years, Amazon has contributed to delivering millions of fresh meals and grocery supplies to underserved communities. The 2024 edition of the Iftar on Wheels program will also kick off a company-wide volunteering initiative that will see employees dedicating thousands of hours to delivering produce to vulnerable families across the UAE.
Regarding the partnership, Manal Bin Yaroof, Executive Director of the UAE Food Bank, said, “The UAE Food Bank aims to entrench the values of social responsibility and volunteerism among individuals and organizations. We do this through sustainable partnerships with various entities to raise awareness and help reduce food waste in the country. Our partnership with Amazon is now in its fourth year and we are very happy to work together once again for the Iftar on Wheels program. Through Amazon’s scale and logistics expertise, we will further our goals by delivering meals to as many underprivileged people as possible during the Holy Month of Ramadan”.
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Iftar on Wheels is a part of Amazon’s wider global efforts to reduce food insecurity for underprivileged communities. As part of that process, the company continues to provide vital support to local partners in all of its operational regions who share the same commitment.
Prashant Saran, Director of Operations, Amazon MENA, said, “The Holy Month of Ramadan reminds us of the people who need our compassion. Amazon is committed to working side by side with local partners to make a positive impact in the community. This is a special time of the year when we continue to serve customers while at the same time utilizing our scale and expertise as a force for good in the community”.
Since its UAE launch, Amazon has continued to strengthen its presence and boost the order fulfillment experience for local customers. Today, Amazon’s operations network in the UAE spans three fulfillment centers, another three sorting centers, eight delivery stations, and a vast network of small and medium logistics businesses working as Delivery Service Partners.
News
Microsoft Plans $10 Billion-Plus Gulf Expansion Despite Iran Conflict
Security is shaping Microsoft’s approach, from resilience work with governments to what it will say about how the money splits by country.
Microsoft is planning more than $10 billion of investment across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait through 2030, Vice Chair and President Brad Smith told Reuters, calling the spending schedule aggressive. The Iranian conflict that began on February 28 has not persuaded the company to scale back.
“We’re sustaining all the investments we planned to make before this conflict started, and we are in fact adding to them,” Smith said. The $10 billion-plus total does not, however, show how large those additions are.
The investment, which Smith described as part of Microsoft’s continued infrastructure expansion, is aimed at cloud and AI infrastructure and at the company’s growing regional operations. Microsoft also intends to put more than $400 million into subsea and terrestrial connectivity across the Middle East by 2030.
The spending fits the region’s own ambitions too. Gulf governments have been investing heavily in AI infrastructure as part of a push to diversify their economies beyond oil and gas and turn themselves into global technology hubs. Major cloud and AI providers have been drawn in part by the land and relatively low-cost energy on offer.
Microsoft is widening its partnerships with regional AI companies, though not on identical terms. In 2024, it invested $1.5 billion in Abu Dhabi-based G42 for a minority stake, and Smith currently sits on G42’s board. Saudi Arabia’s Humain and Qatar’s Qai are working with Microsoft on selected priority areas, but Smith said the company does not plan to make capital investments in either.
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The conflict has added another strand to Microsoft’s work in the region. Since it began, Smith said, the company has supported regional partners with digital resilience assessments, and it is now working with Gulf countries through a digital resilience initiative focused on preparedness and the protection of critical data.
So far, the company has given no country-by-country breakdown of the investment, citing security among other factors. So while the headline figure is public, how Microsoft divides the spending among the four countries is not.
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