By IRNA,
New Delhi : German Chancellor, Angela Merkel has been honoured with Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding for her enormous efforts for sustainable and equitable development.
The jury, chaired by Vice-President Mohammad Hamid Ansari has decided to confer the award for 2009 on Dr Merkel, the Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, an External Affairs Ministry release said here Monday.
‘By honouring Chancellor Merkel the Award for the year 2009, India recognizes her personal devotion and enormous efforts for sustainable and equitable development, for good governance and understanding and for the creation of a world better positioned to handle the emerging challenges of the 21st century,’ it said.
She has been sympathetic to developing countries and our own developmental imperatives and has led the search for a balanced solution based on principles of equity and sensitivity to the interests of the developing world, it said.
The Award carries prize money of Rs 1 crore besides a trophy and citation.
Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding is an international award presented by the Government of India. It was founded in 1965 and is administered by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) to people ‘for their outstanding contribution to the promotion of international understanding, goodwill and friendship among people of the world’.