Dubai, December 27: The government has approved Dh217 million for the Marriage Fund and the bulk of the funds would be allocated to new grants for Emiratis seeking to marry local women, press reports said on Tuesday.
Part of the funds will also be used to develop the institution’s social programmes involving creating awareness of the need for family stability to curb divorces in the UAE, which has one of the world’s highest divorce rates.
“We are planning to undertake seven strategic initiatives next year to develop the Fund’s activities in collaboration with several federal establishments,” the Fund’s director Habiba Al Housani said.
She said the Marriage Fund had provided a total of Dh1.27 billion in wedding grants to Emiratis since it was created by late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan in early 1990 to help UAE men marry native women. The Fund, a unique social institution in the Arab world, extends an average Dh70,000 to each wedding Emirati couple.
=—–Emirates