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France rewards immigrants, voluntary returnees
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-07-04 22:45

PARIS  -- French Immigration Minister Brice Hortefeux has, for the first time in France's history, rewarded a group of 14 people with various prizes for supporting integration and co-development, describing the winners as examples of "genuine success".

During a colorful ceremony on Thurday organized at the immigration ministry, Hortefeux took time to reward what was describes as "three forms of success" by issuing the prize of the "successful journey of integration," "support for integration" as well as "co-development."

The first prize was awarded to five people, including Kyu Jeong Jeon, who came into the country from South Korea in 2001 and went on to found a successful restaurant business. Mariam Partskhaladze, who arrived from Georgia in 2001 before launching a designing career, was also rewarded.

Others included Concesca Nsenga, a refugee from Rwanda and a mother of four, who works as an assistant nurse and Jean-Baptiste Kamuanga Subayi, who arrived from the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1985 and now works as a senior surgeon at the Angers University Hospital. Florim Muaxeri, a refugee from Kosovo, was also rewarded for writing "perfectly" in French.

The second prize, support for integration, was awarded to five individuals or associations also. These included the Al Kalam Association, which works for the defense and promotion of women, Nora Atamna, which promotes the employment of girls from poor backgrounds and SA Spanghero for organizing French courses for its foreign employees.

The association Future Generations, whose work is encouraging integration through sporting activities in Northern Marseilles neighborhoods, and the Club of 1,000 corporate citizens were also rewarded under this category.

The price of co-development, which is seen as the most prestigious of the three, was attributed to young graduates "who had bravely taken up the challenge of returning home" after finishing their studies in France.

This saw Abdoulaye Diouf, who has established a textile business in Dakar, Senegal, Brahima Kane, who runs a pharmacy in Bamako, Mali, and Magatte Salekh, proprietor of a fishing company in Senegal rewarded by the minister.The prize was also awarded to the Paris-based Gambi Diaobe Nationals Association for its support for a proposed hydro-electric project in Senegal, according to the immigration ministry.

The designation of the winners was made after sifting through 136 deserving cases collected by prefectures and consulates on the basis of a call for applications that was launched three months ago.

The jury was notably composed of Basile Boli, former footballer, Blandine Kriegel, president of the High Council for Integration ( HCI), Alix de la Bretesche, president of the National Agency for Social Cohesion and Equality of Opportunities (ACSE) among other prominent personalities.

According to the immigration ministry, each of the selected winners will take home 3,000 euros (about 4,500 US dollars) for individuals and 5,000 euros for associations.