Baldwin Spencer recipient of UN Visionary Leadership Award

Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer (File photo)

VIENNA, Austria, Tuesday November 20, 2012 - Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer has been awarded the South-South and Triangular Visionary Leadership Award.

The Visionary Award is given annually to leaders from countries and institutions that focus primarily on the development of the global South who, through their actions, have placed the cooperative spirit center stage in international efforts to improve the human condition, according to an Antigua government statement.

Antigua and Barbuda’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Dr. John W. Ashe, accepted the award on behalf of Prime Minister Spencer, who could not attend the ceremony.

“I am pleased and honoured to be given this prestigious award, whose significance is seen in the goals developing countries have strived to achieve through the multitude of South-South alliances that have been formed over the years,” Spencer said in the statement.

“I would like to thank the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation for this singular honour, which recognizes leaders who have used South-South cooperation as a uniting framework to foster economic integration, the formation of negotiating blocs during multilateral negotiations, political alliances, sharing of knowledge, experience and technology, cross-sectoral collaboration and in advancing cultural exchanges,” he added.

The award ceremony is part of the five-day 5th Annual Global South-South Development (GSSD) Expo 2012 that ends on November 23.

This year’s Expo, a UN-sponsored forum, is being attended by more than  30 organizations, agencies and institutional partners.

It will highlight the dual themes of sustainable energy and climate change and showcase more than 30 practical, successful interventions in the field that have raised living standards and promoted sustainable growth and prosperity in developing countries, an official statement said. (CMC) Click here to receive free news bulletins via email from Caribbean360. (View sample)