The Vatican will honour Nobel Laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus with a “Lamp of Peace,” an award exclusively given to those who work towards promoting peace and harmony.
Pope Francis has invited Prof Yunus to the Spring 2020 Economic Summit , reports UNB.
Father Enzo Fortunato, Spokesperson and Communication Director of The Holy Convent of the Papal Basilica of Assisi—representing the Vatican—invited Dr Yunus on behalf of Pope Francis and made the announcement on Friday, the first day of the two-day 9th Social Business Day.
The mega event ends on Saturday at the Centara Grand & Bangkok Convention Centre at Central World in Thailand
The Yunus Centre, Dhaka; Asian Institute of Technology (AIT); and Kasetsart University, Thailand jointly organized the event.
At the event, there were several notable video messages highlighting the achievement of the Nobel Laureate.
Jose Graziano da Silva, Director General, Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, talked about FAO's collaboration with Prof Yunus in community and economic empowerment.
Thomas Bach, President, International Olympic Committee (IOC), thanked Prof Yunus for acting as a mentor for Olympic athletes in becoming social business entrepreneurs.
Academy award winner, actor Matt Damon, and Gary White, co-founders of Water.org commended Dr Yunus for being the inspirational figure behind their philanthropic work.
Mechai Viravaidya, Chairman Mechai Viravaidya Foundation, highlighted the fact that social business development should be taught in primary schools to ensure its long-term sustainability.
He quoted from Prof Yunus's book, saying that “access to credit must be a human right.”
Also, at the event, it was announced that two new Yunus Social Business Centres (YSBCs) are to be built at the National Taipei University of Business and Albukhary International University Malaysia.
This year, the theme of the event is “Making money is happiness, making other people happy is super happiness.”
On the first day of the event. panel discussions addressed a myriad of topics in relation to the social business ecosystem, such as: food and agriculture, deforestation, green energy, education, health, technology, sports, culture, and the arts.
