PM Gonsalves accorded Japan national award 

Prime Minister Of St. Vincent and the Grenadines Ralph Gonsalves has been accorded Japan’s  high national decoration of the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun.

The office of the Prime Minister in Kingstown said Tokyo announced the conferment on Monday. 

Kingstown quoted Japan ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago Matsubara Yukata as saying in an April 29 letter that the Tokyo conferring a national decoration upon a sitting head of government “is a very rare occurrence, and it is this rarity that befits a leader of your stature”.

Matsubara said that having met Gonsalves on a number of occasions, “I can honestly say that I hold you in the highest regard, both as a leader and statesman. 

“You have managed, Honourable Prime Minister, to transcend cultural and and geographical boundaries to foster an ever-growing partnership between Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Japan, with your trademark congeniality. Thus, I greatly admire you and all you have achieved as a beacon of leadership in the Caribbean.”

Kingstown said it is expected that the actual conferment ceremony of the national decoration

will take place in St. Vincent and the Grenadines this year at a mutually-convenient time.

“The Prime Minister thanks the Government of Japan for its kind consideration and accepted the national decoration with humility in the quest for the further strengthening of the already excellent relations between Japan and St. Vincent and the Grenadines,” the Office of the Prime Minister said in a statement. 

The Orders of the Rising Sun, established in 1875, was Japan’s first award. 

It features rays of sunlight radiating from the rising sun. The attachments are shaped into paulownia flowers and leaves.