Only Two Persons In The World Have Received This Award: Obama And Tony Fernandes
Congratulations, Tony.
By Sadho Ram — 21 Feb 2016, 10:41 AM
It's called the 'Fourth Pillar' Award.
And it's given by the United States-ASEAN Business Council to a person or organisation for extraordinary contribution towards the growth of ASEAN and the US-ASEAN relationship.
Tony was presented the award in San Francisco by Keith Williams, Chairman of the US-Asean business council, making him the second recipient of the award after President Barack Obama.
A statement by AirAsia explained that the Asean charter speaks to a community comprising three pillars, namely political security, economic and socio-cultural.
"The Fourth Pillar Award is presented to a person or organisation representing the "fourth pillar", a person that has made an extraordinary contribution towards the growth of Asean as well as fostering better U.S.-Asean relationship," said the statement.
The AirAsia Group CEO, Tony Fernandes, was given the award at the Asean Economic Community (AEC) Conference 2016 dinner reception held in San Francisco on Wednesday, 17 February
Tony, who spoke at the event, said combining all ten Asean countries into a single market and production base means tapping into a community of over 600 million people.
"The potential this region (ASEAN) holds is immense, and as a truly Asean brand, we will continue to lobby and spearhead Asean integration, especially but not limited to the aviation, travel and tourism industries," he said while adding that he believed it is time for Asean to take a bold step towards commonality and standardisation.
"There is an urgent need of one Asean regulator to ensure a unified Asean standard. The current process of relying on consensus that requires approval from all ten countries should be reviewed so important initiatives move forward," he added.
While he added that it was a true honour to be recognised by the U.S.-Asean Business Council for what he and his team had done, Tony insisted there is still much more to do
"Our hope is for all ten member countries' governments to come together as harmonisation allows for more efficient use of resources, achieve better economic scale, contribute towards the reduction of unit costs and lead towards faster growth for the region."
SAYS would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Tan Sri Tony Fernandes for becoming the only person in the world after US President Barack Obama to win this award
