October 24, 2020
In celebration of the 75th Anniversary of the United Nations, the World Harmony Foundation today conferred on Guyana’s former Prime Minister and First Vice-President, Moses Nagamootoo, the “Outstanding Harmony for Peace Award for 2020” in recognition of what the Awards Committee described as his “illustrious career”.
This year’s Award was also bestowed on Yukio Hatoyama, former Prime Minister of Japan; and Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyjesus, Director General of the World Health Organisation.
The WHF is a non-government organisation that has been working with the United Nations during the past 15 years to promote social goals.
Both its President Frank Liu and Co-Founder Richard Jordan noted the contributions of Guyana towards realisation of these goals.
Liu mentioned the outstanding public role of Mr. Nagamootoo over six decades, as well as his recent stint as Guyana’s Chairman of the National Covid-19 Task Force; while the veteran UN staffer, Mr. Jordan, commended him for accepting earlier this year, on Guyana’s behalf, Chairmanship of the Group of 77 and China.
The Presentation Ceremony was held in New York this morning during a virtual meeting of the Awards Committee, which is headed by former US Congressman, Lester Wolff.
In brief remarks, former Prime Minister Nagamootoo extended greetings to Secretary General Antonio Guterres as he applauded the positive leadership of the United Nations in the fight for peace, citing the ceasefire truce in Libya as the most recent example.
But he pointed out that “the battle is far from over”, and called for renewed efforts to defeat systemic racism and neo-fascism, and remove dangerous threats to the sovereignty of nations.