Many of Iraq’s most eminent business people flew to London to celebrate 25 years of charitable work in Iraq by the AMAR Foundation on Wednesday 13th December at Lancaster House. The principal guest was AMAR’s Patron His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales, who praised the work and support given by IBBC and its Members for the AMAR foundation in recent years.

HRH Prince Charles presented special scrolls to mark the occasion to prominent members of IBBC who have consistently supported and donated generously to the AMAR Foundation’s work in Iraq. In particular Mr Mohammed Charchafchi, Non-executive Chairman of IBBC and principal donor to AMAR, Mr Hans Nijkamp, IBBC Executive Committee Member, Mr Rasmi Al Jabri, Deputy Chairman of IBBC and Mr Christophe Michels, Managing Director of IBBC were singled out and honoured during the proceedings. HRH Prince Charles also met IBBC members that have significantly contributed to AMAR over the years. These included representatives of Zain Iraq, Al Burhan Group, UB Holding, SKA, CCC, International Islamic Bank, HWH & Associates, BP, Shell and Vitol.

The AMAR Foundation has worked in Iraq for 25 years to provide healthcare and education to the marginalised people of Iraq, presently and in particular administering to the recent surge in refugees and IDP’s from the war with Daesh, for whom they directly care for 170,000 people. Over the years more than 10 million have benefitted from healthcare initiatives and many more from educational support and teaching. Leading the celebrations AMAR’s Executive Chairman and President of IBBC, Baroness Nicholson introduced HRH Prince Charles to over 30 AMAR staff who had come to London from Iraq lead by AMAR’s Director General Dr Ali Muthanna.

Christophe Michels says ‘IBBC are delighted to have AMAR as its charity of choice, and we are grateful for the huge support our members have and continue to provide to AMAR and Iraq over the years’.

HRH Prince Charles singled out the IBBC for particular recognition in his speech ‘in particular the Iraq Britain Business Council – whose magnificent support over the years has made all of this work possible.’ The AMAR Foundation also received a congratulation letter from Prime Minister Theresa May on the occasion in which the Prime Minister said ‘With the support of many businesses and the Iraq Britain Business Council, AMAR continues to be a wonderful example of how vision, determination and humanity can bring about real change in extremely challenging conditions’.

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The full text of HRH The Prince of Wales speech:

A SPEECH BY THE PRINCE OF WALES FOR THE AMAR 25th ANNIVERSARY

WEDNESDAY 13TH DECEMBER, LANCASTER HOUSE, LONDON

Ladies and Gentlemen, it gives me the greatest possible pleasure to join you all this afternoon to celebrate the Twenty-Fifth Anniversary of the AMAR International Charitable Foundation. Having been familiar with this remarkable organization since its earliest days, and extremely proud of being its Patron for the past thirteen years, I can only say that I know what a great deal there is to celebrate after all these years of quite extraordinary achievements.

Indeed, astonishingly, during the past twenty-five years over ten million people in Iraq, Lebanon, Iran and Pakistan have been able to benefit from the healthcare facilities made available through AMAR, with many more benefitting from the educational opportunities that AMAR provides.

I am sure you will all agree that the scale of AMAR’s reach is profoundly impressive but, if I may say so, it is the ethos at the core of AMAR’s work which is the most impressive thing of all – even in the most desperate and heart-breaking situations, where conflict has shattered lives and persecution has wrenched societies apart, AMAR has always maintained an unwavering faith in the future. It has not let itself be drawn into the complex causes of past miseries, but has instead focused on the ‘here and now’ in order to help ordinary people rebuild their lives and regain the confidence that those lives are worth living. And what is more, it has done all of this by harnessing the talent and determination of doctors, nurses and teachers within these countries who, between them, hold the keys to a better future.

And so, Ladies and Gentlemen, above all, today is an opportunity to honour the work of the remarkable AMAR teams – wherever they operate, and whatever conditions of deprivation or threat they face – whose professionalism has delivered extraordinary outcomes in health and education for so many people over these twenty-five years. Each and every one of them, whether they work in Iraq or in another part of the Middle East, or in London or Washington, should feel deeply proud of all that AMAR has achieved. So too, should the many businesses and commercial entities – and in particular the Iraq Britain Business Council – whose magnificent support over the years has made all of this work possible. If I may, I would also like to pay a special tribute to Baroness Nicholson whose indefatigable leadership and extraordinary professionalism has been so crucially important to this endeavour for so many years.

Ladies and Gentlemen, over the past quarter of a century AMAR has given us all reason to have faith in humanity. It has saved countless lives, created hope from despair and achieved nothing short of miracles. Today, all of us can re-commit ourselves to this remarkable and profoundly important work, knowing that the need remains great and that the challenges continue. I know that each of you will share my confidence that, for as long as those challenges exist, AMAR will rise to them with energy, professionalism and the greatest possible humanity.