President Kufuor Gets Another Award

Accra, Oct. 2, GNA - President John Agyekum Kufuor has been named as the winner of this year's prestigious Chatham House Prize, a release from the United Kingdom highest International Affairs and Research think-tank announced in London at the weekend.

This was contained in a statement signed by the Press Secretary To The President and Presidential Spokesman, Mr Andrew Awuni. President Kufuor was selected as winner ahead of Mrs Angela Merkel, Chancellor of the Germany Republic; HH Agha Khan, founder of the Agha Khan Development Network, and Ambassador Christopher Hill, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs of the United States.

The Duke of Edinburgh would present President Kufuor with the prize in Drapers (the Financial district of London), on October 28. The annual Chatham House Prize is awarded to the statesperson, who is deemed by the House to have made the most significant contribution to the improvement of international relations. President Kufuor's award is in recognition of his positive role in mediating in conflicts with Ghana's immediate neighbours including Liberia and Cote d'Ivoire as well as his contributions to the growth of the economy, social freedoms and the development of a robustly free press.

President Viktor Yushchenko of Ukraine, 2005; President Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique, 2006; and Her Highness Sheikh Mozah, the Consort of the Emir of Qatar, 2007 have won the Chatham House award, which is increasingly emerging as the British equivalent of the Nobel Prize.