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Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique (Maputo)
NEWS
June 23, 2004
Maputo
The Aga Khan, the spiritual leader of the Ismaili branch of Islam, begins an official visit to Mozambique on Thursday, at the invitation of the Mozambican government.
According to a press release from the Aga Khan Foundation, he will attend a ceremony at which President Joaquim Chissano will lay the first stone in the construction of an Aga Khan Academy in the southern city of Matola.
This is the second in an international network of 20 academies, described by the Foundation as "centres of excellence", and which will be run by the Aga Khan Educational Services.
The Aga Khan will also discuss current projects and future programmes in Mozambique undertaken by the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN). The AKDN is involved in education, rural development, micro- finance and tourism in Mozambique.
The Foundation's release claims that the AKDN "is based on the ethical principles of Islam, namely inclusion, compassion, sharing, independence, respect for health and for life, the cultivation of a sound and enlightened mentality, and the collective responsibility of humanity for the physical, social and cultural sustainability of the environment".