US musical legend Dionne Warwick will be FAO Goodwill Ambassador at Seychelles carnival

The Food Agricultural Organization (FAO) has confirmed that the US musical legend, Dionne Warwick, will be traveling to Seychelles to be the UN FAO’s Goodwill Ambassador at the 2011 Seychelles “Carn

The Food Agricultural Organization (FAO) has confirmed that the US musical legend, Dionne Warwick, will be traveling to Seychelles to be the UN FAO’s Goodwill Ambassador at the 2011 Seychelles “Carnaval International de Victoria.” Dionne Warwick is expected to land in Seychelles on March 3 where she will join the carnival celebrations and parade on the Food Agricultural Organization’s float to spread their humanitarian message.

Dionne Warwick is well known in Seychelles for her songs “That’s what friends are for,” “Heartbreaker,” “Don’t Make Me Over,” to name but a few. She has her own Star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame. It is not common for international organizations like the FAO to be part of a carnival, but Dionne Warwick traveling to the Seychelles as the FAO Goodwill Ambassador will see her parade alongside other world bodies in the Seychelles carnival. The European Union, La Francophonie, and RETOSA have all three already confirmed their participation in the 2011 Seychelles “Carnaval International de Victoria.”

It is often remembered that Dionne Warwick said, on her appointment in 2002 as the Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, “This reaffirms that we all have a place in the world community, and in being honored in such a way as I am today, I am given the opportunity to make a statement about what needs to be done in the world to combat hunger and poverty.” Her visit to Seychelles is to promote the FAO’s drive to fight hunger in the world. This continues her work started since November and December 2002 when she gave visibility to FAO during concerts organized at the Teatro Sistina and Teatro Argentina in Rome.

In 2006, she also recorded a support message that was broadcast all over the Latin America region in view of the mega concert of Asunción, Paraguay. In October 2009, Dionne Warwick attended as a guest of honor and keynote speaker at the World Food Day celebrations in New York, at the Ecosoc Chamber, and she delivered a much-appreciated statement. The event was chaired by the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

One of her most successful concert, “Dionne Warwick & Friends,” took place at the Victoria Apollo in London on Sunday, January 9 on the occasion of World Hunger Day, to raise funds for the hungry in the world.

Dionne has been providing extensive support to the “1billionhungry” project launched by FAO in May 2010. She has been instrumental in spreading the appeal contained in the campaign and helping to build momentum for the project and to the petition. She acted as a dynamic partner and spread the campaign messages to her audience through her official web site, other social media, and through TV appearances and media interviews.

Dionne Warwick’s unique vocal style has brought her fame, as she is the recipient of countless awards, with an illustrious career that spans close to 40 years and includes no less than 55 hit singles. Her status as a musical and humanitarian icon is legendary. Her service to the world does not stop at her unique vocal styling, rather she continues to work tirelessly with various organizations dedicated to empowering and inspiring efforts.

On receiving confirmation of Dionne Warwick’s participation as the FAO Goodwill Ambassador, Alain St.Ange, the CEO of the Seychelles Tourism Board said that it was an honor for the Seychelles carnival to be welcoming such participation as Dionne Warwick for the FAO, but also that of other world bodies such as La Francophonie, the European Union, and RETOSA.

“We wanted to put forward a carnival with a difference, one where the community of nations come forward to showcase their own attractions, culture, and diversity. We also wanted world organizations to be with us and for them to tell the world outside their own member states what they stood for. And we wanted world navy ships to be in Seychelles to spell out the world’s determination to make the Indian Ocean shipping routes safe. All this has been achieved and on March 4, the world will see a carnival in a country that is today what the world is set to become – the melting pot of cultures,” said Alain St.Ange.

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Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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