Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has been named the winner of the Yara Prize, a new award honouring individuals or organisations who reduce poverty and hunger through environmentally sustainable agriculture in Africa. The Ethiopian Premier will receive the first Yara Prize – worth US $200,000 – for his contribution to improved food security and human nutrition in environmental friendly ways.

According to the prize committee, Meles has brought about political change in Ethiopia, while introducing development strategies that considered the rural poor first and foremost. The award, which was created this year by the Oslo based agricultural group Yara International ASA, and consists of the $200,000 bursary, a diploma and a work of art, will be presented by Jeffrey Sachs, the top economic advisor to the United Nations, at a ceremony in Olso, Norway on 3^rd September.

Yara set up the prize in response to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan’s challenge that the private sector should help create a ‘green revolution’ in Africa.

ENDS