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Muhammad Ali, Boxing Legend, Receives C-100 Award for Improving Western-Islamic Relations |
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27 January 2006 - Davos, Switzerland
The Council of 100 Leaders: West-Islamic World Dialogue Initiative (C-100) of the World Economic Forum is pleased to launch the C-100 Award at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2006. The award is for an individual who has made an especially noted contribution in promoting dialogue and understanding between the Muslim and Western worlds.
This year in Davos, the first-ever award from the C-100 is being presented to the boxing legend Muhammad Ali, who has devoted himself to the ideals of advancing tolerance and cooperation around the world. As a convert to Islam living in the West, he is a living witness to the principles of peaceful cooperation that the C-100 seeks to promote. His work has now reached a new level with the recent opening of the US$ 82 million Muhammad Ali Center in his home town of Louisville, Kentucky, with the mission to promote respect, hope and understanding among children and adults.
The Centre has been designed as an “educational and cultural global gathering place” dedicated to promoting cross-cultural understanding “where people can come, both online and in person, to learn, share and celebrate commonalities as human beings, and formulate ways of advancing humanity today and in the future.” It is the culmination of his lifelong efforts to improve understanding and cooperation between different cultures, and it is for his devotion to this cause that the first C-100 Award is being presented to Muhammad Ali.
The C-100 was launched by the World Economic Forum to promote enhanced cooperation and mutual understanding between the Muslim world and the West. It is a uniquely multistakeholder community drawn from public figures and other leaders in business, media, religion, civil society and academia that has an unparalleled capacity to mobilize and promote practical change, and has already received contributions for its work in excess of US$ 1 million. Even though it is only in the early stages of its work, it has become a vital platform for innovative thinking and over a dozen on-the-ground initiatives currently at various stages of development with real impact in areas ranging from youth and media to education and religious exchange.
Specific examples include: The Soliya programme which is a unique cross-cultural education programme connecting students from 16 universities based in the United States and across the Middle East through Web-based videoconferencing; the Common Ground News Service which solicits and distributes key articles on current West-Islamic issues in multiple languages around the world and has had 2,300 articles reprinted reaching a worldwide audience thus helping combat misperceptions; an in-depth dialogue which seeks to clarify the central issues with a view to focusing subsequent work in the areas that are most needed including the relationship of religion to modernity and to violence, currently exploring how to create a better understanding of our commonalities in the light of our real differences.
It is expected that, after its launch at the Annual Meeting 2006, each year the C-100 Award will continue to recognize and honour individuals who have made outstanding contributions to improving dialogue and understanding.
For more information on the C-100 see www.weforum.org/c100
The World Economic Forum is pleased to acknowledge the following Initiative Partners providing
support to the C-100:
· HRH Prince Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdulazziz Al Saud, Chairman of Kingdom Holding Co., Saudi Arabia
· Xenel/Saudi Cable Company
Notes to Editors:
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The World Economic Forum is an independent international organization committed to improving the state of the world by engaging leaders in partnerships to shape global, regional and industry agendas.
Incorporated as a foundation in 1971, and based in Geneva, Switzerland, the World Economic Forum is impartial and not-for-profit; it is tied to no political, partisan or national interests. (www.weforum.org)
For more information, please contact:
Communications and Public Affairs
World Economic Forum
Tel.: +41 (0) 22 869 1212
Fax: +41 (0) 22 869 1394
E-mail: public.affairs@weforum.org
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