Art performance at the award ceremony of the UNESCO Confucius Prize in Qufu, East China's Shandong Province on Monday Photo: Pang Yue/GT

Literacy programs from Egypt, Côte d'Ivoire and Mexico were awarded with the Confucius Prize on Monday in Qufu, hometown of the philosopher in East China's Shandong Province, a day before his 2,572nd birthday.

Three programs around the world were given the Confucius Prize this year, including "Building & Growing" from Mexico, which helps construction workers learn to read and write, the "Ain Shams University experience in organizing online literacy classes for rural areas in Egypt", which focuses on the development of rural residents, especially children and women, and the "Functional literacy for traders in Abidjan through the use of ICT" from Côte d'Ivoire, which is specialized in literacy of local women.

The winners accepted their award online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The UNESCO Confucius Prize for Literacy was established in 2005 with the support of the Government of the People's Republic of China. It is awarded to excellent literacy programs with special consideration to adult literacy learning in rural areas and out-of-school youth, particularly girls and women.

The award ceremony was held during the 2021 China International Confucius Cultural Festival and the 7th Nishan Forum on World Civilizations, which kicked off on Monday. More than 172 scholars, envoys and officials from 16 countries attended the event online or on site.

Ban Ki-moon, the eighth secretary-general of the United Nations, said in a congratulatory letter that only through dialogue can different civilizations work together, inspire each other, and find answers to problems. He believes that in this process, the Confucian civilization will definitely exert its unique value.

Yasuo Fukuda, honorary Chairman of the Organizing Committee of Nishan Forum on World Civilization and former Prime Minister of Japan, said that the scheduled holding of this forum itself is to promote meaningful dialogue among diverse civilizations and illuminate the turbulent and confused world pattern.

The Confucius Culture Week for Chinese and foreign students was also launched on Monday in Qufu.

The celebrations of the 2,572nd birthday of Confucius will open at the Confucius Temple in Qufu on Tuesday.