Fazle Hasan Abed, Founder and Chairperson of BRAC and President BU Governing Board was awarded the prestigious UNDP Mahbub Ul Haq Award for Human Development on December 15, 2004 at a ceremony held in New York City. The award recognized Mr. Abed's "Outstanding initiative in furthering the understanding and progress of human development in a national, regional, or global context". The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) first launched the Human Development Reports (HDR) in 1990 to acknowledge people as the real wealth of a nation, and promote their development through expansion of choices and exercising of freedom. To date, two such awards have been offered, the first of which was awarded to President Henrique Cardoso of Brazil, and Fazle Hasan Abed is the winner of the second. Nominations for the award come from those working on Human Development Reports in over 130 countries around the world. Fazle Hasan Abed was chosen for the award by a Final Judging Panel comprised of: Her Royal Highness Princess Basma of Jordan, Moises Naim, Editor of Foreign Policy and the former Minister of Economy of Venezuela, Dr. Kwesi Botchway, Executive Chairman - African Development Policy Ownership Initiative and Former Finance Minister of Ghana and Dr. Mahnaz Afkhami of the Women's Learning Partnership, former Iranian Minister of State for women's affairs.