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This is a translation of the speech made by President Senghor when proposing the health of His Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan at the dinner given in his honour on Monday evening at the Presidential Palace, as reported in Dakar Matin, 20th March 1968.

Prince,

We are particularly happy to receive you in Dakar on an official visit because you are a friend known to us for a long time, because you are a leader of the Muslim religion and finally because you are a modern gentleman.

A little more than a year ago, the Sixth Seminar organised by the Aga Khan Award for Architecture met in China -- first in Peking, where experts from throughout the world talked about rural architecture and such important questions as the role of the experts, financial and otherwise, in the creation of rural living environments suitable for the men and women there who produce the raw materials that are essential to our community life -- and then in Urumqi, Turfan, Kashgar, cities bearing witness to the thrust of Islam eastwards.

On November 2, 1982 in Dakar, President Abdou Diouf opened the Seventh International Seminar sponsored by the Aga Khan Award for Architecture. Attending the ceremony were His Highness the Aga Khan, Mr. Oumar Welle, Minister for Urban Planning, Habitat and Environment, Mr. Henry Ssentoogo, President of the African Union of Architects, members of Diplomatic Corps and some 70 specialists from all over the world.

I should very much like to express, on behalf of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, as well as all of the participants in this seminar and myself personally, our warmest thanks to the President of the Republic of Senegal, Mr. Abdou Diouf, who opened our debates and to Mr. Oumar Welle, Minister of Housing and Urban Planning, who encouraged and aided us in organising the seminar. I would like to take this opportunity to pay homage to the country, to the government and to the Senegalese participants who have all contributed to our having an extremely open, creative and fruitful debate.