Crown Prince Haakon to continue as UNDP Goodwill Ambassador

Haakon in Guatemala. Photo: www.undp.org

Crown Prince Haakon of Norway will continue as a UNDP Goodwill Ambassador for two more years, reported Kongehuset on Oct. 26. He has been an Ambassador for the organization since 2003.

UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) has 132 country offices in its six regions comprised of Africa, Arab States, Asia and the Pacific, Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States, Latin America and the Caribbean.

Advocating for progress toward the Millennium Development Goals is at the core of Crown Prince Haakon’s UNDP engagement.

In his work he has already visited Tanzania, Kambodsja, Sierra Leone, Guatemala, Burundi and Mongolia. He will travel to Botswana together with UNDP in November.

“I accepted the invitation to become a Goodwill Ambassador for UNDP, because I strongly believe that all people are equal and should have equal rights to realize their potential as human beings,” said the heir to the Norwegian throne during a visit to Burundi with UNDP in October 2007.

Haakon has also been engaged in the work of the Human Development Report Office. He was on the Advisory Panel for the 2007–2008 report, as well as on the panel for the Human Development Award 2007.

“Human Development is key for moving the world forward,” he said. “We need to be inspired by the people who have taken leadership and have shown us a way through which we can improve the living conditions for everyone.”

Source: UNDP.org / Kongehuset.no