GDANSK, Poland: The former leader of Poland’s Solidarity trade union and former Polish President Lech Walesa yesterday presented the first Lech Walesa Prize to Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah for his contribution toward interfaith dialogue and charity work.
King Abdullah’s prize was received by his son Prince Abdulaziz at a ceremony in Gdansk that marked the 25th anniversary of Walesa receiving the Nobel Peace Prize.
King Abdullah was awarded the prize for “promotion of values which were the foundation of the Solidarity movement,” a conference presenter said.
Abdullah launched several interfaith meetings and a Beirut Summit in 2002 that called for nonviolence and an end to the Israeli-Lebanon conflict.
In 2005, King Abdullah won hearts in Poland when he sponsored a costly and complicated operation at the King Abdulaziz Medical City in Riyadh to separate Polish conjoined twin girls, Olga and Daria Kolacz.
