President Rosen Plevneliev was awarded the Nizami Gandzhevi international award at a special ceremony in the capital of Azerbaijan Baku. The award was presented in the presence of incumbent and former state leaders from the whole world, top-level government representatives, members of the European Parliament and of national parliaments of Europe, Asia and Africa, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, UNESCO and others.
President Rosen Plevneliev was awarded the Nizami Gandzhevi award for his contribution to intercultural understanding, tolerance and his respect to the cultural diversity in the world. The award was handed out to him by Vaira Vike-Fraiberga – Latvian President (1999-2007) and Dr. Ismail Serageldin – director of the library of Alexandria. At the ceremony it was highlighted that this year the award is presented to an eminent European.
The award given to Rosen Plevneliev bears the name of Nizami Gandzhevi, the 12th-century Persian poet and philosopher, who won international recognition, a great public reformer, who promoted tolerance, dialogue and the solution of issues of public interest. The award has also been presented to the 42nd US President Bill Clinton, US State Secretary Henry Kissinger (1973-1977), Margaret Thatcher – Prime Minister of Great Britain (1979-1990) and Her Majesty Queen Noor, Queen of Jordan.
The award was founded by the International Center Nizami Gandzhevi. The Organization promotes political leadership for a more peaceful world by organizing a lot of international forums. By holding discussions, the international center has the ambition to encourage current and future political leaders to come up with new and bold ideas which will trigger a positive change toward a better and more peaceful world.
“Only through dialogue and understanding, through respect to the different will we build a peaceful world of cultural richness and human understanding,” President Rosen Plevneliev said, after receiving the international award. “I accept this award on behalf of the Bulgarian people, which has proved more than once its tolerance, hospitality and humanism in its rich history,” the Head of State said. The President emphasized that in today’s global world the issue of intercultural dialogue and understanding for the sake of peaceful coexistence should lie at the heart of the political debate.