Philippine president to speak at AGFUND event in Manila

The Arab Gulf Program for Development (AGFUND) Prize Committee has announced that nominations for the International Prize are open to any international project working for the cause of impoverished communities in rural areas around the world.
According to a source from AGFUND, projects competing for the prize are involved in “developing remote and rural communities through ICT and youth empowerment.”
Nasser Al-Kahtani, AGFUND executive director, said that the preliminary results obtained by the evaluation team has indicated the extent of AGFUND’s achievement in terms of the prize’s strategic targets, such as facilitating the transfer of successful experience of the winners and also shedding light on developmental issues.
Prior to the award ceremony to be held in Manila on Feb. 27, the organizer has disclosed the evaluation criteria for the prize, profiles of new developmental policies and details of the winning projects.
AGFUND President, Prince Talal bin Abdul Aziz, has announced that this year’s ceremony will take place in Manila where the winners will be announced. Philippine President Benigno S. Aquino III is expected to address the event to be attended by high-profile local and international personalities.
Both Prince Talal and Professor Mohammad Yunus, Prize Committee Member will speak at the opening ceremony.
Past venues for the annual prize ceremony included Geneva, Paris, New Delhi, Tunis, Cape Town, Warsaw, Istanbul and Kuala Lumpur.
According to the organizer, Manila will also host the 14th meeting of the AGFUND prize committee to be held on the eve of the award ceremony to approve the winners of the prize in the field of “Food Security for the Poor” and select the prize subject for 2013.
Al-Kahtani, said the team assigned by AGFUND to carry out the evaluation reached some conclusions on the developmental impact of the winning projects and the benefits afforded the target group by the winning project.
He said the evaluation team visited four countries from which the winning projects originated: Egypt, India, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe.