The President of the Republic of Macedonia, Dr. Gjorge Ivanov, is the winner of the 2014 Award of the Foundation, which is bestowed during the Crans Montana Forum.

The award "Prix de la Fondation" is bestowed to President Ivanov for his personal contribution to the activities and achievements in all areas of the society and for his commitment to the protection of the fundamental freedoms.

"I am proud of what Macedonia is doing because it is what the world will be increasingly facing in the future, that all societies in the future will be multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multilingual. We need leaders capable of dealing with diversity. What we see in the Middle East is a result of closed-minded people who can not open their mind to recognize the differences and live with them. We live in a world that is rapidly changing. The global media, the Internet, support the global process of ethnic revival, religious revival, language revival. New communities on the Internet, Facebook, Twitter are created every day. Territory loses its meaning. These new communities live in their own worlds. Young people need to live in a world respecting and honoring the diversity. As Switzerland is a positive example of respect for diversity, Macedonia in the Balkans builds a similar, its own specific model of respect. Respect builds on tolerance. Therefore, we must promote the respect for diversity so as to prevent events like those in the crisis hotspots, which infect young people and disrespect diversity," President Ivanov said, adding that the prestigious award is recognition for the Republic of Macedonia and the Macedonian people.

This year, despite President Ivanov, Foundation Award winners are the Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, the Chairman of the Bosnia and Herzegovina Presidency, Bakir Izetbegovic, the former Prime Minister of Senegal, Aminata Toure, and Herve Gourdel, posthumously.

Previous winners of this prestigious award are current and future European Commission Presidents, Jose Manuel Barroso and Jean-Claude Juncker, the former UN Secretary General, Boutros Boutros Ghali, the former Prime Minister of Israel, Yitzhak Rabin, the former President of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, the former President of Romania, Ion Iliescu, the former Prime Minister of Serbia, Zoran Djindjic, as well as Richard Holbrooke, Lech Walesa, Benazir Bhutto and other world leaders and prominent political and social life figures.

Prix de la Fondation is awarded since 1989 during the Crans Montana Forum in recognition of social responsibility and contribution to global growth and development.