The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques His Majesty King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz yesterday decorated Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus with the King Abdul Aziz medal at the Kingdom at  the Saudi Royal Palace in Jeddah in appreciation  of contributions toward confronting human development problems and introducing micro-credit system to combat poverty . The decoration is  the Kingdom's highest honor awarded to civilians.

Professor Yunus flew to Jeddah on invitation of His Majesty King Abdullah on the afternoon of September 4. He was welcomed at the Palace by HM King Abdullah and had bilateral discussions with him lasting  90 minutes on  international and regional issues, with particular focus on development initiatives for Muslim countries. During the meeting, Professor Yunus proposed to His Majesty the idea of creating centers of academic excellence in Muslim countries, as well as  a Saudi scholarship fund under patronage of HM the King for students from Muslim countries to study at the top universities around the world.