moon commended in his speech the late King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz and his contributions in the fields of peace, security, and humanitarian actions, describing him as the wise and merciful leader, who directed the Kingdom's efforts in development, worked to address the challenges to peace and security, combated terrorism, and devoted his endeavors seeking for achieving rapprochement and understanding between the peoples of different cultures. Ban Ki-moon said that the late King was a hero in the fight against hunger, indicating the Kingdom's donation amounting to five hundred million dollars to the World Food Programme in 2008 during the crisis of food rising prices, in addition to its large financial contribution to the humanitarian efforts in Syria and Iraq last year. He pointed to the late King's important initiatives to promote dialogue between the followers of religions and cultures, referring to his recent meeting with the late King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz in Jeddah last July, which mainly focused on resolving the conflict in the Middle East and the revival of the Arab Peace Initiative, behind which he was the driving force. The UN Secretary General affirmed that the late King's efforts made an impact on Arab and Islamic worlds, and the international community. --More 11:25 LOCAL TIME 08:25 GMT تغريد
