Painting & Patronage was established in Riyadh by HRH Prince Khalid Al-Faisal bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud. Prince Khalid Al-Faisal is the Governor of Makkah Province. His Royal Highness is also a well known artist, poet and champion of the arts. The principal aim and activity of Painting & Patronage is to build and foster valuable bridges of cultural, artistic and educational understanding between the Arab world and the international community.  Through doing so, the initiative aims to establish a higher and deeper level of appreciation and understanding of each other’s distinct and diverse cultures and traditions. Painting & Patronage seeks to further widen bilateral ties between the partner countries of the programmes.

In 2007 Painting & Patronage was honoured by being granted the High Patronage of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud of Saudi Arabia (photo left). As an on-going royal initiative, Painting & Patronage is seeking to launch further exchange programmes with European, North and South American and Asian nations. In April 2010 HRH Prince Khalid Al-Faisal together with HRH The Prince of Wales announced a new 10th anniversary cultural and educational exchange programme between the United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia.  For more information please visit www.paintingandpatronage.com 

Mr Bailey is active in promoting greater cultural, educational, inter-religious and trade ties between Europe and the Arab world. He is a HM Government Ministerial Task Force adviser on educational policy and also holds prominent positions with numerous charitable, inter-religious, educational, foreign affairs and European-Arab bilateral initiatives across the world. He is an adviser to the King Faisal Foundation and a Director of the British-Saudi Society in London.

Photo below: HRH Prince Khalid Al-Faisal presents HM Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom with a signed limited edition lithograph on the occasion of the British monarch’s visit to the Painting & Patronage exhibition held in London.

Nicolas De Santis, Secretary General of Gold Mercury International met with Jose Dario Uribe (in the photo), President of Colombia’s Central Bank in London. The meeting was organised by H.E. Mauricio Rodriguez Ambassador of Colombia to the United Kingdom. 

Mr. Uribe presented the most important highlights and data of the Colombian Economy and showed how Colombia is well prepared for the challenges ahead and ready to become an economic and social beacon for the region. Colombia presents great opportunities for foreign investment and has recently sealed a trade agreement with the European Union.

With a current population of 45 million people, the Colombian economy grew 4.4% in Q1 2010. GDP per capita has grown 46% since 2004 and although is still below some South American Countries, the efforts made at the public and private sectors have contributed to almost doubling GDP since 2004. Foreign direct investment in Colombia is now five times greater than in 2003. Projected FDI for 2010 is USD 8.5 billion with the UK as the second largest investor in Colombia and the 8^th destination for Colombian exports.

In 2009, Gold Mercury International presented outgoing President Alvaro Uribe of Colombia (photo below) with the Gold Mercury Peace and Security Award for his transformative efforts to make Colombia a safer place for its people, generate a positive environment for progress and attract foreign companies to invest. Colombia’s insecurity index has decreased during the past eight years delivering greater economic growth rates.

Gold Mercury’ s Secretary General, Nicolas De Santis, attended the Foreign Policy Center meeting and report presentation : Tackling the world water crisis: Reshaping the future of foreign policy. This new FPC report is being launched to mark World Environment Day (5 June). The report aims to stimulate discussion and debate amongst a wide ranging audience in an effort to promote the centrality of water on today’s foreign policy agenda, particularly in light of the increasing environmental shocks and stresses presented by climate change and global population growth. The report aim is to increase the importance of water in foreign policy strategy in order to provide a more effective response to improving the management of freshwater while ensuring reliable and sustainable access. Contributors to the report include: Rt Hon William Hague MP, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs; Baroness Catherine Ashton, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy; Professor J.A. Tony Allan, King’s College, London and School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS); Fiona Harvey, Environment Correspondent, The Financial Times, David Nussbaum, Chief Executive, WWF-UK; Dr. Letitia A. Obeng, Chair, Global Water Partnership (GWP). The report was edited by Dr. David Tickner Head of Freshwater Programmes, WWF-UK and Josephine Osikena director of the Foreign Policy Centre’s programme of research.

Artist Merawi Sitot was born in 1936 in the rural Ethiopian region of Wollo Ambassel. An orchestra that came to town one day had such a profound impact on him that at age 14 he moved to Addis Ababa to pursue a musical career.  Marawi helped set up the Ethiopian National Theatre and managed the National Theatre’s Music Orchestra for 27 years.

Through a long and versatile musical career, he worked with his country across three successive governments as a sax and clarinet player and arranger for more than 43 years, writing and composing music that he toured around the world with fellow musicians including the acclaimed Tilahun. Together with other artists of the “Golden Era” of Ethiopian music, they helped raise awareness and opened up enjoyment of African music to a global audience.

Upon receiving the Gold Mercury International Award for Global Culture in 1985 for his contributions to his country’s culture, he dedicated it to the national theatre, his self-pronounced “second-home”, declaring ”Though this award is given to me, it is not only mine. It is the output of my friends who have been working so hard with me for the last 43 years […] rather this (the national theater) is the right place for it.”
This year, the ninth edition of the Ethiopian Music Festival held at the National theatre, which is organised by the alliance Ethio-Francaise with the support of various embassies and institutions, was dedicated to Merawi along with Getachew Debalque, another luminary of the Ethiopian musical stage.

Gold Mercury is proud to commemorate the 2010 International Year of Biodiversity by partnering with The Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), established at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. The CBD is “an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity and equitable sharing of the multiple benefits of biodiversity”, which comprises 191 parties and thus represents near-universal participation. The International Year of Biodiversity comes at a critical time in our environment’s history, especially given the missed opportunities to crystallise change at Copenhagen last December. We must push forward public awareness of the cause and encourage a civil engagement on all fronts to protect biodiversity.

Nicolas De Santis, Secretary General of Gold Mercury International, says: “2010 is the International Year of Biodiversity and a timely year in which to establish this initiative. The Convention on Biological Diversity adopted by the UN  is really a key document for global  sustainable development policy and will encourage public and private strategies for the conservation of biodiversity. The only way we can ensure a rich and treasured environment for the generations to come is to give endangered species and lands, the time and space with which to prosper again.”

Gold Mercury is a long-standing partner of the Global Compact of the UN and dedicated to the mission of raising awareness to save biodiversity by taking immediate action worldwide. In 2010, we have upcoming projects in the pipeline that will specifically focus on key industries related to global biodiversity and both monitor and analyse the ways in which they can improve efforts to protect and promote a sustainable planet. This partnership represents such a “call to action” and aims to encourage further multi-stakeholder dialogue across all industries in order to achieve the Goals of the International Year of Biodiversity.

Read more about the International Year of Biodiversity 2010 here: http://www.cbd.int/2010/welcome/

He was the conductor of the State of Mexico Symphony Orchestra for 12 years (1971 – 1983), then of the Mexico City Philharmonic Orchestra for 7 years (1983 – 1989) and resumed directorship of the OSEM from 1990 to the present. Since 1984, he was named “guest conductor” of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and as an invited guest conductor, he has led more than 500 symphony orchestras around the world.

His work is represented with a collection of 145 recordings of which 41 are with the Royal Philharmonic, 9 with the London Symphony, 3 with the Philharmonia, 12 with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, 2 with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, 19 with the Mexico City Philharmonic Orchestra, 58 with the State of Mexico Symphony Orchestra, and 1 with the Toscana Orchestra in Florence, Italy, for the British record companies EMI Records International, Academy of Sound and Vision, Musical Heritage (USA), NAXOS, IMG International Management Group, Pickwick, RPO Records and Arts (German company). The repertory of Enrique Batiz as a conductor ranges from classical to contemporary works. He has been described as an artist who conducts with vehemence and enthusiasm, manifesting a deep understanding, unusual even among the finest conductors.

Photo: Jennifer Taylor for The New York Times

When praised for his intervention in stopping the coup, Fernández would remark with characteristic modesty: “All the merit was the King’s. I was just lucky enough to be alongside him and I don’t want to boast about that.”

Sabino Fernández Campo a law graduate was born in Oviedo in 1918. In 1977, he was appointed General Secretary of the Zarzuela Palace. He helped educate the crown prince Felipe, and advised on press, and Royal visits.

“Sabino was a close friend and a special man, a democratic man. He has a been a special actor in the spanish democratic transition” said Eduardo De Santis, Chairman of Gold Mercury International.

Gold Mercury International has been chosen as the think-tank NGO partner to sponsor a number of planes competing in the final of the Grand Prix Gliding World Championship in Santiago, Chile, between 2 and 10 January 2010. Gold Mercury will appear as a partner brand alongside global international brands.

Nicolas De Santis Secretary General of Gold Mercury said: “Within the context of what is happening in Copenhagen, this type of event and sport will focus the importance on preserving nature and bring environmental issues even closer to people. As a new televised Grand Prix event, GP Gliding will bring the previously unseen into the homes of millions, harnessing the undisputed passion of sport to a unique environmental agenda, while being backed up by cutting edge technology.”

Gliding is ideally poised to become a powerful vehicle in promoting environmental awareness. Global competitions take place in locations chosen for their challenges, beauty and relevance to the environmental agenda. New advanced TV technologies, including helicopter camera systems, real-time 3D graphics, multiple on-board cameras and patented innovations will allow filming in the air using the planes themselves as camera platforms.

Gold Mercury believes that this sport can be a valuable vehicle for global corporations to promote their CSR* activities. It will raise the volume on the environmental agenda via the emotions and images that the sport conveys through footage of nature and the locations in which flights take place.. Future gliding events may be held in the Amazon Forest and the Himalayas. These events can take place in such locations without any damage to the locations themselves. This sport acts as an inspirational message for the next generations.

Mario Hytten, Managing Director of Captimax, who co-organises the event said: “We chose Gold Mercury out of various international think- tanks due to their focus on transforming sustainability by improving global governance and creating a sense of global citizenship”.

The Championship competition is officially sanctioned by the FAI (Federation Aeronautique Internationale), consisting of a series of competitions crowning one World Champion.

*CSR = Corporate Social Responsibility

Professor Thomas Risley Odhiambo (February 4, 1931 Alego, Nyanza Province – May 26, 2003) was a Kenyan entomologist and environmental activist who directed research and scientific development in Africa. He was described as a “Visionary entomologist harnessing science for Africa’s poor”. Odhiambo was the founding director of the Nairobi-based International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE) and a leading figure in African science for several decades.

He encouraged the younger generation of thinkers to venture into the fine arts, investigate its relation to history of life sciences and to go out and create global academies and research institutions using technology. His inspiring effect led to the re–emergence of accumulated indigenous knowledge and technology systems in the modern African world. He led visions on agricultural development in Africa by initiating effective scientific projects leading to advancement in growing indigenous crops and disseminating methods of insect control.

Eduardo De Santis, Chairman of Gold Mercury International remembers Odhiambo “Thomas was a special man on a mission to improve Africa’s food sustainability and the wellbeing of its people. He is one of our most deserving laureates.”

Professor Odhiambo published several books focused to improve sustainable food production and the african crisis including:

-Land-Use Literacy for Sustainable Food Production in Africa, 1994

-Science for Development in Africa : Proceedings of the Consultation on the Management of Science for Development in Africa, Duduville, Kasarani, Nairobi, Kenya, November 21-24, by Turner Timinipre Isoun, 1988

-Hope Born Out of Despair : Managing the African Crisis, by United Nations University.

Shem Wandiga, former president of the Kenya National Academy of Sciences (KNAS), said that Odhiambo had been a “giant of a scientist” in Africa. “We might have underestimated his accomplishments in this part of the world but internationally he was recognised and respected,” he said. “Our efforts now should be to further his dream for a science-led African development.”

The Guardian Obituary

One of our exciting projects in 2010 is part of our research on “Anticipatory Governance” and future frameworks to improve sustainable development.  Work on the “Anticipatory Governance  Framework” is underway. The project aims to create a long term framework to dramatically improve decision making for the 21^st Century.

If there is one thing that last year’s protracted crisis taught the world, it is that there is a need for long-term orientated, visionary thinking. Existing mechanisms for governing (decision making) and understanding the future (anticipating) are simply no longer adequate to address the extended range of strategic challenges and complexities. 

With this research, we aim to present a new framework to improve global governance for the next century and create a base for understanding our future and our role in this planet as global citizens.

GLOGO° 2010

In November 2010 Gold Mercury will host Glogo 2010, an innovative, unique-format event with inspirational leaders and delegates from an array of fields, which will showcase Anticipatory Governance as a central theme to improve the way we organize governance and the way in which we identify key issues that need to be tackled. Anticipatory Governance is the first step in prioritizing what is most important in order to achieve sustainability through global governance.