Iyambo receives award

FISHERIES and Marine Resources Minister Dr Abraham Iyambo was recently awarded the Margarita Lizarraga Medal, which President Hifikepunye Pohamba said ‘speaks volumes of Namibia’s fisheries management’.

Iyambo was awarded the medal by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in recognition of his contribution to the establishment of the Benguela Current Large Ecosystem Project (BCLME), the Benguela Environment Fisheries Interaction and Training Programme (BENEFIT) and the South East Atlantic Organisation (SEAFO).He will receive the medal at the 36th session of the FAO conference to be held in Italy in November. The Margarita Lizarraga Medal was instituted in 1997 and is awarded biannually to a person or organisation that served with distinction in the application of the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries.’In the past when I was the minister of fisheries, all the credit came to me, but it was Dr Iyambo that actually did all the work,’ President Pohamba said last week. ‘Now, as minister of this very important sector, he makes the right decisions that are in line with Government policy. Now the fishing industry has, and continues, to do well despite all the difficulties we face, thanks to Iyambo’s leadership,’ he added.