ROYAL GUESTS ATTEND THE 7TH PRESIDENT’S CENTENNIAL DINNER
HIH The Princess Akishino of Japan and HRH Princess Margriet of the Netherlands both attended the 7th President’s Centennial Dinner on Tuesday 23 October, in the Ridderzaal, Hall of Knights, a 13th century
banqueting hall at the heart of The Hague’s parliamentary complex.
The Centennial Dinner featured addresses from The Union’s President, Dr Jeremiah Chakaya Muhwa, and Executive Director, José Luis Castro, as well as Dutch Minister for Medical Care and Sport, Honourable Bruno
Bruins, who helped secure the use of the historic venue for the evening. Dr Kitty van Weezenbeek, Executive Director of KNCV Tuberculosis Foundation and local host supporting the conference, also spoke.
Speaking to a room of Union supporters, Dr Chakaya thanked guests for their dedication to TB and, drawing on recent progress made at the UN, he said:
“We all know that the UN High Level-Meeting was not an end in itself. It was simply a means to advance the political and social solutions we need to be able to end TB.
Whether we advance those solutions is now up to us. The real effort lies ahead… and I am more hopeful than I have ever been because I see the greatest opportunity that I have ever seen.”
The President’s Centennial Dinner is part of The Union’s Centennial Campaign in the build up to the organisation’s centennial year in 2020. The campaign will support The Union’s next century of work – to combat some of the world’s biggest killers including TB, lung disease and tobacco use.