Ex-PM Hailemariam to Receive Japan’s Spring Imperial Award

ADDIS ABEBA – Former prime minister of Ethiopia, Hailemariam Desalegn, is set to receive the Japanese government’s 2019 Spring Imperial Decoration.

Japan announced on Tuesday the foreign 142 foreign recipients of the 2019 Spring award and the former PM Hailemariam is one of them. This year’s spring awards for notable contributions to relations between Japan and their countries, Tokyo said.

“The decoration was awarded in recognition of his outstanding contribution towards strengthening the bilateral relationship between Japan and Ethiopia as well as promoting Japan’s diplomacy toward Africa through TICAD,” said its embassy in Ethiopia.

Hailemariam, 53, will receive the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun.

The embassy also said: “In appreciation of Japan’s contribution to peace and stability in Africa, former PM Hailemariam supported Japan’s position on multilateral issues and collaborated with the country”.

It said, as the IGAD chair and a UN Security Council member, Ethiopia built and strengthened its cooperation with Japan’s efforts toward South Sudan’s stabilization.

The former Prime Minister also chaired successive Japan-Ethiopia Industrial Policy Dialogues and introduced the Kaizen philosophy into Ethiopia.

He also promoted Japan’s private sector investment into the country.

Hailemariam co-chaired TICAD V with Japanese PM Shinzo Abe in 2013 and contributed to the adoption of the Yokohama Declaration as well as the Yokohama Action Plan 2013-2017.

In TICAD V, the embassy said Hailemariam contributed to Africa’s ownership-enhancement, the alignment between development plans in Africa and the TICAD process, and the promotion of the dialogue between the African and Japanese private sectors.

The award ceremony will be held at the Imperial Palace on Thursday, with the emperor and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in attendance.

By Our Staff Writer