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Honourary Doctorate Recipients for 2008-2009
9th July 2009
This year’s honourary degrees were bestowed upon H.E. Ambassador Franciscos Verros of Greece, H.E. Ambassador Li Baodong of China, the Honourable Kairat N. Kelimbetov, HRH Jean de Nassau, Prince of Luxembourg, the Honourable Noerine Kaleeba, and President Mikhail Gorbachev.
H.E. Ambassador Franciscos Verros
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H.E. Franciscos Verros is the Ambassador of Greece to the United Nations and the other International Organizations in Geneva. His distinguished career includes service in the Hellenic Navy and, as a diplomat of Greece, at the European Union, in the German Democratic Republic, in Paris, at the Western European Union and, in a series of increasingly important posts at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in Athens. In 2007 he was honorary Dean of the Geneva School of Diplomacy. His teaching, his hospitality and his love of Greek culture and history is an abiding inspiration to GSD students and faculty. |
H.E. Ambassador Li Baodong
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H.E. Li Baodong is the Ambassador of China to the United Nations and the other International Organizations in Geneva. He began his career in the Information Department of the Chinese Foreign Ministry and developed a special perspective on the promotion of understanding between China and the outside world through candid communication. In the last days of the USSR he accompanied then Chinese Premier Li Peng on a visit to Russia. Ambassador Li was subsequently a promoter of dialogue on human rights between China and the West and on the establishment of the position of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. The Ambassador has hosted many UN Security Council consultations on key global issues. He is a strong proponent of multilateralism. A graduate of Beijing Foreign Studies University, he holds a Master’s Degree from Johns Hopkins University. |
The Honourable Kairat N. Kelimbetov
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Kairat Kelimbetov is the youngest elected Government Minister in Kazakhstan. His outstanding leadership qualities have carried him from Minister of Economy and Budget Planning to Chairman of the National Welfare Fund. He is known for his promotion of human capital development. He is the head of the National Welfare Fund, Samruk Kazyna which, among other things, promotes diversification, fosters competitiveness and promotes greater social justice in Kazakhstan. Karat Kelimbetov was previously the head of the administration of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan. |
HRH Jean de Nassau, Prince of Luxembourg
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Jean de Nassau studied at Sandhurst and in Geneva and has worked in real estate, in structural finance and in international developments in central Asia, China, the Middle East and Africa. In 2006 he took over WSSA (Water & Sanitation South Africa) and created MEA AQUA, a company specialised in water services and management solutions for Africa and the Middle East. WSSA today employs over 2000 people and is active in South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Mozambique and Zambia. In 2008 the Prince created MEA ENERGIA, dealing mainly with renewable energies; and MEA POWER for more traditional energies. MEA ENERGIA also works with large forest entities such as the Congo Basin. Prince Jean de Luxembourg has earned high regard for his work in environmental protection and in the amelioration of climate change. |
The Honourable Noerine Kaleeba
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When the tragedy of AIDS struck her own family in 1987, Noerine Kaleeba became the founder and patron of TASO Uganda. The organization – which provides care, support, and counselling while mobilizing communities and neighbourhood care for people living with HIV – was one of the very first community responses to AIDS in Africa. It has now blossomed into a vibrant organization that, globally, is a household word. Today it is one of the world’s leading examples in AIDS care and support as well as in community education for HIV protection in poorer regions. A passionate and visionary leader, Noerine Kaleeba has also served as an adviser of UNAIDS in Geneva. She focuses today on her role as Chair of the Board of ActionAid International. Her compassion and exemplary work has made her the recipient of many international awards. |
President Mikhail Gorbachev
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President Mikhail Gorbachev needs no introduction. Last General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and last Head of State of the USSR, he continues his work for peace to this day through the Gorbachev Foundation and the World Political Forum. Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev came to power as President of the USSR with a mandate for reform. His intelligence, his inherent decency and his distaste for intolerance quickly emerged as policies to open up his society – which led to an unravelling, ultimately, of communist ideology itself. Though a patriot, President Gorbachev’s refusal to use brute force to prop up the Iron Curtain immediately placed him at the very centre of modern history’s most challenging and dangerous problems. He was a key architect of the ending of the Cold War – pushing back mightily the very real threat to humankind of nuclear conflict. For this alone, future generations – both in his own country and in all countries around the world – are in Gorbachev’s debt. A controversial and iconic figure of the 20th century, Mikhail Gorbachev will be remembered as one of the great change-agents and reformers of modern times. |
| (President Gorbachev was represented at the ceremony by The Honourable Pavel Palashenko, a well-remembered face from historic USA/USSR summit meetings and today a senior official of The Gorbachev Foundation) |
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