Annan presents Candlelight Award to Maurice Strong and Jim MacNeill

Businessman Maurice Strong and Jim MacNeill, a main author of the report Our Common Future, today received the Candlelight Award from Secretary-General Kofi Annan on behalf of the New York-based non-governmental organization Carriage House.

"Thanks to these two visionaries, governments and grass-roots organizations alike now understand, more than ever before, that fighting poverty and protecting the environment are two sides of the same coin - compatible, mutually reinforcing goals," Mr. Annan said. "The challenge now is to implement what were agreed - and reach our long-sought goal of a safer, more equitable world in which people live in harmony with each other and with nature."

The Secretary-General praised Mr. Strong as "a dynamic public presence on the international stage" who "personifies what it means to bring together the strengths of the private sector and public service."

Mr. MacNeill, he said, had worked as an author, diplomat, public servant and UN official, to help people think differently about their relationship with the natural world.