Former Foreign Affairs Minister Mr. Samuel Rudy Insanally has been awarded the Order of the Rising Sun by the Japanese government.

Counsellor Kiyoshi Takeuchi of the Japanese Embassy pins the Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun on Rudy Insanally.

The award, which is the highest that a non-national can receive, was bestowed by Mr. Kiyoshi Takeuchi on behalf of the Japanese Emperor Akihito, since Insanally was unable to travel to Tokyo because of ill health.

Insanally is the seventh recipient of the prize in the Pan-American region, the other recipients being from Argentina, Costa Rica, Paraguay, Uraguay, Venezuela and Mexico.

Takeuchi stated at the event that “Insanally is a true friend” of Japan who had played an important role in many collaborations between Guyana and that country.

Accepting the award, Insanally said that it was “humbling” to be in a select group of persons. He said that the award was made greater because it was evidence of a good relationship between Guyana and Japan.

Acknowledging the important role Japan is playing in climate change, Insanally said that the Kyoto Protocol was an important step in this direction.

Insanally has been Guyana’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations since 1987, and was Minister of Foreign Affairs of Guyana from 2001 to 2008.

At the UN, he was Vice President of the United Nations Council for Namibia prior to Namibian independence in 1990, and in April 1990, he was Vice President of the Special Session of the General Assembly on International Economic Cooperation. He was the President of the Forty-Eighth Session of the United Nations General Assembly was held from 1993 to 1994. He is the longest serving current delegate to the United Nations.

Insanally was Chancellor of the University of Guyana from 1994 to 2001.

The Order of the Rising Sun was established in 1875 by Emperor Meiji of Japan. The Order was the first national decoration awarded by the Japanese Government, created on by decree of the Council of State.