World’s Best Minds meet to Tackle Global Poverty
Monday, 23 June 2008, 4:46 p.m.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama (C) and Arab League secretary-general Amr Mussa (R) attend the conference Petra. Photograph: Awad Awad/AFP/Getty Images |
Dharamshala: His Holiness the
Dalai Lama joined a wide array of the world’s leading figures with best
minds, including Nobel Laureates and world leaders last week in Jordan
to find ways to bridge the gap between rich and poor and to tackle the
global hunger crisis.
Among them were Shimon Peres, the president of Israel and the
Nobel Peace Laureate, Amr Musa, the secretary-general of the Arab
League, Stjepan Mesic, the president of Crotia, Abdoulaye Wade, the
president of Senegal and Nobel Peace Laureate Elie Wiesel.
The fourth annual conference of Nobel laureates was convened in
Jordan’s rose-red stone city of Petra from 18 – 19 June. It was jointly
organised by Ellie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity and King Abdullah the
II Fund for Development.
His Majesty King Abdullah II ibn Al Hussein opened the two-day
conference with a keynote address on 18 June. Two Plenary sessions on
‘Transforming the Global Economy – Bridging the Gap’ and ‘The Hunger
Crisis – Securing the World’s Food’ were held on the first day.
From left: Prime Minister Nader Dahabi, HRH Princess Sumaya and Nobel laureates Tibetan spiritual leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Elie Wiesel, attend the concluding session of the 4th Petra Conference of Nobel Laureates on Thursday (AP photo by Mohammad Abu Ghosh) |
Later in the day, the leaders also took part in a brain storming
session: ‘Advances in Medicine, Science and Technology – The
Accessibility Challenge.
In his keynote address on ‘The Hunger Crisis: Securing the
World’s Food’, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, who won the Nobel Peace
Prize in 1989, said the widening prosperity gap between rich and poor
was not only morally wrong, but also led to frustration and violence,
threatening world security.
His Holiness said upholding the sense of universal
responsibility based on human compassion will help in resolving the
hunger crisis.
His Holiness called for the affluent to show compassion to the
less fortunate, not least because hunger could threaten world security.
“We have to address this gap: rich and poor,” His Holiness said.
His Holiness also said full preparation of the young generation,
with the required knowledge and enhancing the sense of responsibility,
is a necessity to enable youth to face challenges of the world.
On the concluding day, the participants sat for a third plenary
session on ‘Media – A Force for Change’.
Later in the evening, His Holiness the Dalai Lama left Queen Alia
International Airport, Amman for Kuwait, before flying to India. His
Royal Highness Prince Ghazi saw him off at the airport.
–Mr Masood Butt, Joint Secretary of Department of Information and International Relations, CTA, contributed to this report.