Prince Talal Announces Queen Sofia to Join The Membership of The Committee of AGFUND International Prize

Prince Talal Bin Abdulaziz, President of the Arab Gulf Programme for Development (AGFUND), announced the accession of Her Majesty Queen Sofía of Spain to the membership of the Committee of AGFUND International Prize for Pioneering Human Development Projects. Queen Sofia, who is highly erudite and influential development activist, was selected from a number of prominent figures nominated to represent the European continent in the Prize Committee. Her Majesty, who is a pediatrician, assumes a number of public positions namely; Executive President of Queen Sofía Foundation, Honorary President of the Royal Board on Education and Care of Handicapped Persons of Spain, as well as the Spanish Foundation for Aid for Drug Addicts. In recognition of her outstanding efforts, Queen Sofia received a number of international awards. Prince Talal welcomed the accession of Queen Sofia to the membership of the Prize Committee, stating, in view of Her Majesty’s profound concern with sustainable human development and firm commitment to humanitarian and environmental issues, peaceful coexistence and promotion of understanding between civilizations, she will significantly foster the Prize objectives and work. Her Majesty Queen Sofia will represent the European continent in AGFUND Prize Committee, which include a number of prominent international figures representing the Arab region, the North and South Americas, Asia and Africa. Those are; HE Dr. Ahmad Mohamed Ali, president of the Islamic Development Bank Group, Signora Mercedes Menafra, Honorary President of the All for Uruguay Organization, Professor Muhammad Yunus, Founder of Grameen Bank, Chairman of Yunus Centre and Dr. Y. S. Abdulai, Former Director General of the OPEC Fund for International Development (OPFID). It is worth mentioning that the theme of AGFUND Prize 2014 is “Marketing of homemade products” and that the amount the Prize is five hundred thousand US dollars (500,000) and it is consisted of four categories; the first one is allocated for projects implemented by UN agencies and international and regional NGOs, the second is for projects implemented by national NGOs, the third for projects executed by government ministries and public agencies and the fourth category is for projects implemented by individuals. The deadline for receiving the nominations is the end of May 2014.