Tanzania’s ex-Minister to receive PM’s award today

New York : His Royal Highness Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa Award for Sustainable Development will be presented in a grand ceremony at the United Nations headquarters here today. 

It will be held on the sidelines of the 71st UN General Assembly session, held under the theme: “The Sustainable Development Goals: a universal push to transform our world.” 

Former Minister for Lands, Housing and Human Settlements Development of Tanzania, Prof. Anna Kajumulo Tibaijuka, will be bestowed with the award in recognition of her contributions in providing creative solutions to achieve sustainable development.

Prof. Tibaijuka is also the Member of Parliament for Muleba South, (CCM), Tanzania and the former U.N. Under-Secretary and immediate former Executive Director of UN-habitat. Besides her contributions to achieving urban and sustainable development, Tibaijuka’s had a major role in consolidating cooperation among various countries across the world.

The award is consistent with HRH the Prime Minister’s vision to achieve sustainable development inline with the Sustainable Development Goals 2030 adopted by world leaders during the September 2015 UN Sustainable Development Summit. It aims at enhancing international cooperation, through the exchange and transfer of experiences and lessons learned.

By launching the award, Prince Khalifa encourages the international community to shoulder its responsibilities towards achieving sustainable development, especially in the least developed countries. 

His Royal Highness Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa Award for Sustainable Development was first announced in Geneva in July 2007 during a ceremony in which HRH Premier was conferred with the Prestigious 2006 Special Citation of the Habitat Scroll of Honour Award from the United Nations Human Settlements Programme.

The inaugural winner of the award was The Green Brigade Project in Burkina Faso in 2008. Prince Khalifa presented the award to the winners at the Fourth Session of the World Urban Forum (WUF4) held in Nanking, China. The project was aimed at improving the city environment of Ouagadougou by providing for secure employment to a group of 1,200 women. 

High-level participants in the General Assembly session, Permanent representatives to the United Nations and Senior United Nations officials will attend.