Turkish Culture and Tourism Minister Ertugrul Gunay on Tuesday received an award in Brazil by UN-Habitat and Rafic Hariri Foundation on behalf of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Turkish Culture Ministry said Nazek Hariri, wife of assassinated Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri, gave the ANIU award to Gunay during the opening of "5th World City Planning Forum" held in Rio de Janeiro.

The award is given to Erdogan for his success in leadership, good governance and as a statesman when he was in office as the Istanbul Metropolitan Mayor between 1994-1997.

In 1996, the second United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II) was held in Istanbul while Erdogan was the mayor of the city, and "Habitat Agenda" and "Istanbul Declaration" were adopted in the conference.

UN-Habitat Executive Director Anna Tibaijuka congratulated Erdogan, and said that his contributions as Istanbul Metropolitan Mayor would not be forgotten.

Following the ceremony, Gunay met Brazil's Tourism Minister Luis Barretto Filho and agreed to boost relations in tourism. The two ministers also agreed to form "Tourism Joint Commission" and to hold the first meeting of the commission during Filho's scheduled visit to Turkey.

AA