Manama: Bahrain’s Prince Khalifa Bin Salman Al Khalifa has become the first Arab prime minister to receive the ‘Flame of Peace’ Award granted by the Association for the Furtherance of Peace.
Prince Khalifa was presented the award by the association president Archduchess Herta Margarete at a ceremony in the capital Manama attended by Vice-President Archduke Sandor von Habsburg, ministers, and senior Bahraini officials.
He was given the award for the crucial role he has played in enhancing humanitarian work, promoting peace and strengthening humanitarian relations among peoples of the world.
“The award is an honouring of the Bahraini people whose society is a model for openness and fraternity, as well as for commitment to the values of tolerance and peaceful co-existence among all its components,” Prince Khalifa said, noting that Bahrain has been, and still is, a melting pot of civilisations and cultures and an oasis of freedom and equality for all.
The Flame of Peace Award reasserts the kingdom’s distinguished status as a peace-loving country that backs efforts to strengthen the pillars of global peace and spread the culture and values of fraternity, co-existence and love so that security and stability prevail worldwide, the prime minister said, Bahrain News Agency (BNA) reported.
Efforts to maintain global peace and security should be preceded by consolidating the values and principles of co-existence and tolerance as a culture that should be instilled in people and translated into a creative work that supports the right of nations to live in peace and security through which development in various fields can go forward, he said.
In her statement, Archduchess Herta Margarete said Prince Khalifa deserved the award for his leading role in consolidating humanitarian work and peace at the world level.
The prime minister is a world personality who enjoys global respect and appreciation and has a rich record of distinguished achievements, she said, adding that the Association for the Furtherance of Peace is proud of the achievements of the prime minister as a supporter of humanitarian work that aims to fulfil the peoples’ aspirations for peace.
She hailed Prince Khalifa’s rich record of efforts to enhance rapprochement among peoples and spread the culture of peace and co-existence as an essential pre-requisite for advancing societies, BNA reported.
She also praised his initiative to urge rejection of practices that represented a threat to humanity’s present and future, as well as his vision and policies aiming to achieve peaceful co-existence in Bahrain.
