Conferment of The Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette
on Dr. Ruprecht Niepold
20th January 2010
Dr. Ruprecht Niepold, Advisor to the Director General, Directorate General for Information Society and Media (INFSO), European Commission, was conferred with the The Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette on 3rd November 2010.
The decoration was conferred by His Majesty Emperor of Japan in recognition of Dr. Niepold’s contribution to Japan-European Union cooperation in the field of Information Communications Technology (ICT).
H.E. Nobutake Odano, Ambassador of Japan to the European Union, presented the award to Dr. Niepold on the 20th January at a reception held at the Ambassador's residence in Brussels. Dr. Niepold's wife and daughter, together with his colleagues and friends, attended the reception.
In his remarks, Ambassador Odano stressed Dr. Niepold's contribution to bridging Japan and the EU in the ICT sector when there still remained some trade difficulties. Dr. Niepold promoted a confidence building approach by arranging the Japan-EU Information Society Dialogue. He also enabled common standardization in telecommunication systems.
Dr. Niepold expressed his gratitude for the decoration and his expectation that there would be further cooperation between Japan and the EU in many areas of common interest. Dr. Niepold concluded his speech by saying that his best achievement was contributing to the building of reliable human networks between Japan and the EU.