EXCHANGE OF PEACE AWARDS BETWEEN PRIME MINISTER ALKATIRI AND SPIRITUAL LEADER SRI CHINMOY IN DILI, TIMOR-LESTE

Dili, 30 January 2004
In a moving ceremony in Dili today, Prime Minister, Mari Alkatiri joined over 100 nations and states in recognizing international peace and spiritual leader Sri Chinmoy’s lifelong service and commitment to world unity. Alkatiri awarded Chinmoy the Timor-Leste Medal of Freedom.

In the same ceremony, Prime Minister Alkatiri became the first recipient of the World-Harmony-Dreamer award in recognition of his contribution to peace.

Sri Chinmoy and his 100 strong delegation also recognized Timor-Leste’s humanitarian needs during their visit. They presented pharmaceutical and medical supplies to the Minister of Health, Rui Maria de Araújo who said the donation “will be distributed in Timor-Leste’s hospitals and other health facilities which suffer from inadequate resources.”

Prime Minister Alkatiri said today: “I am honoured by this continued recognition from Sri Chinmoy who has dedicated his life to the quest for international peace. I accept this award on behalf of my people, the people of Timor-Leste. In our struggle for independence, our people never resorted to acts of terror, which with today’s global threat of terrorism stands out profoundly in demonstrating that Timor-Leste is a peace loving nation.”

It is the second award Prime Minister Alkatiri has received from Sri Chinmoy. In October 2003, the Prime Minister was presented with a medal in the margins of the fifty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, in recognition of his personal struggle for freedom and independence.

In receiving the “Lifting up the world with a Oneness” – Heart Award, Mr Alkatiri joined the ranks of Nelson Mandela, Pope John Paul II, Mother Teresa and Muhammad Ali. Inaugurated in 1988, the award ”recognizes individuals whose efforts have inspired and uplifted humanity”.