LONDON: President Asif Ali Zardari has given Pakistan’s largest civil prize – the Business Man of the Pakistani origin based in Dubai, Umar Faroo Zahor, in recognition of his services for the State of Pakistan, mainly to provide foreign direct investments worth hundreds of millions of US dollars.
President Asif Ali Zardari had approved Hilal-E-Imtiaz (Crescent of Excellence) for Umar Faroo Zahoor in August from last year. Farooq was part of more than 100 people, both Pakistani and foreign, who received the civil awards on Sunday during the presidential inauguration ceremony held in the president’s room as part of Pakistan Day.
Umar Farooq Zahoor was awarded to the Hilal-E-Imtiaz civil price by the president of Pakistan in recognition of his efforts and meritorious services by bringing hundreds of millions of dollars to the country as a direct foreign investment from abroad. Government sources have said that Zahor had brought more than hundreds of millions of direct foreign investments in Pakistan over the past three years.
This investment has been directed to infrastructure, ports and logistics and he understood that projects worth more than $ 2 billion in various fields, including energy, distribution, agriculture, IT, logistics and real estate are currently underway. In addition, Zahoor played a crucial role in promoting bilateral economic ties between Pakistan and the Gulf countries, taking advantage of its solid regional network and its diplomatic skills to facilitate investment flows and economic collaboration.
After receiving the Hilal-E-Imtiaz, Umar Farooq Zahoor said: “It is a moment of honor and blessing enormous for me. I am proud to say that I have brought a direct foreign investment of nearly $ 700 million to Pakistan in the past three years. State of Pakistan to consider myself worthy of this honor.
A few months ago, the intergovernmental institution for the use of micro-algae spirulina against malnutrition (IIMSAM), an autonomous intergovernmental observer with the United Nations Economic and Social Council, appointed Umar Faroo Zahoor as a pro-Bono ambassador against global malnutry.
“Umar Farooq was appointed Pro Bono ambassador as a whole within the secretary general’s office,” according to a letter from Remigio Maradona, MSA, the permanent secretary general.
In his letter to Zahor, Iimsam said that the ambassador will help fight malnutrition by managing the free global distribution of spirulina, focusing on poorly served areas, in particular Pakistan, alignment on UN sustainable development objectives for 2020-2030.
His appointment as a pro Bono Ambassador as a whole, according to the letter published by IIMSAM, supports the organization’s mandate to combat malnutrition by facilitating the free distribution of spirulina to the disadvantaged sectors of the UN internationally, in particular in Pakistan, in accordance with the alignment on the UN sustainable development objectives for 2020-2030 under the Decade of Action.
IIMSAM operates as an independent intergovernmental observer to the United Nations Economic and Social Council, a role granted by the 2003 ECOSOC resolution. The organization is essential in the fight against global malnutrition by promoting and distributing spirulina, a very nutritious micro-alga.
