Ethiopian PM wins Norwegian prize dedicated to Africa

OSLO, Norway, July 19, 2005 (AP) — Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has been named the winner of a Norwegian US$200,000 (euro156,000) prize that promotes U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s call for a green revolution in Africa.

Zenawi will receive the first Yara Prize “for his contribution to improved food security and human nutrition in ways that also protect the environment,” the prize committee said Tuesday.

“He has brought about political change in Ethiopia, and placed the rural poor first in the country’s development strategies,” the citation said.

The award was created this year by Oslo-based agriculture group Yara International ASA to honor individuals or organizations who reduce poverty and hunger in Africa through sustainable projects. It will be presented by Jeffrey Sachs, a top economic adviser to Annan, at an award ceremony in Oslo on Sept. 3.

The prize committee noted that Ethiopia, one of the world’s poorest countries, has doubled its food production and achieved an annual growth rate of 5.8 percent of gross domestic product despite severe droughts in 1998 and 2001.