A public auction of unique vehicle license plates and mobile phone numbers in Dubai has raised funds of around Dh53 million.
All funds from the Most Noble Numbers auction will go towards the One Billion Meals campaign that was launched to increase efforts in fighting with worldwide hunger.
Plates that were sold included F55, AA8, Y66 and V66, all of which went for around Dh46m.
The auction was jointly organised by Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority, Emirates Auction and Abu Dhabi Police.
The number AA8 has topped the list by being sold for around Dh35m, followed by F55 and V66, which went for Dh4m individually and Y66 for Dh3.8m.
Ten mobile phone numbers from both Etisalat and Du were also on offer.
Etisalat numbers went out for around Dh5.4m, with the number 971549999999 is at the top of the list, which was sold for Dh5m.
Five unique mobile numbers from Du went out for Dh725,000. An online auction was also held for 555 unique numbers plates by Abu Dhabi Police was held on 17 and 18 April and on 20 April, Wednesday. Another event will be auctioning numbers 11,2 and 20 from code 2 and plate number 99 from code 1 at Abu Dhabi’s Emirates Palace.
The event that was organised by Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives (MBRGI), the ‘One Billion Meals’ initiative will provide food boxes in refugee camps, impoverished areas and crisis-stricken communities in coordination with the United Nations’ World Food Programme (WFP), the Food Banking Regional Network (FBRN), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Humanitarian and Charity Establishment (MBRCH), the UAE Food Bank, and a number of charity and humanitarian organisations.
Distribution of meals has already taken place in Lebanon, India, Egypt, Uganda, Angola, Jordan, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, as the campaign, an expansion of last year’s ‘100 Million Meals drive, strives to develop long-term food projects to boost communities to secure their own meals.