A great honour for key goals

New York : The “His Royal Highness Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa Award for Sustainable Development” was presented to Mrs. Anna Kajumulo Tibaijuka, the former Minister of Lands, Housing and Human Settlements, Tanzania, during a grand ceremony held at the UN Headquarters here last night on the sidelines of the 71st UN General Assembly (UNGA) session.

Tibaijuka, who is also the former UN-Under Secretary-General and Former Executive Director, UN-Habitat and Director – General of the UN Office at Nairobi, was conferred with the award in recognition of her contributions in supporting sustainable development efforts in many countries. 

On behalf of HRH Premier, Foreign Affairs Minister Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Khalifa gave away the award to Tibaijuka. In a statement, Prime Minister HRH Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa congratulated Tibaijuka. 

The Premier emphasised that Tibaijuka is highly respected at international level for her efforts to strengthen cooperation frameworks that serve urban and sustainable development objectives. Prince Khalifa pointed out that the award was focused on the support of individual and collective initiatives in terms of sustainable development, particularly in developing countries. 

In his address, Shaikh Khalid said that Bahrain had successfully achieved the Millennium Development Goals, and paved the way for an effective implementation of Sustain-able Development Goals.

He noted that Bahrain had ranked high in the UN Human Development Index for achieving very high rates at the level of human development as it posted a five per cent growth rate over the past five years. 

Housing Minister Basim Alhamer, President of the current UNGA session Peter Thomson, Secretary-General of the Arab League Ahmed Abu Al-Gheit, Secretary-General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Dr. Abdullatif bin Rashid Al-Zayani, Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Helen Clark and Princess Basma bint Saud bint Abdulaziz Al Saud attended the ceremony.