Autumn 2020 Conferment of Decorations

On 3^rd November 2020 (Japan Time), the Government of Japan announced the foreign recipients of the 2020 Autumn Imperial Decorations. Dr. Tegegnework Gettu, former United Nations Under-Secretary-General and UNDP Associate Administrator, is among this year’s recipients in recognition of his longstanding contributions towards strengthening economic relations between Japan and Africa through the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) process.
 
Dr. Gettu will receive the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star.
 
TICAD has been a vital platform for over a quarter of a century to leverage multi-stakeholder collaborations for Africa’s development at scale. TICAD is more indispensable than ever for our joint efforts against COVID-19. Together with the co-organisers of TICAD; namely, UNDP, the UN Office of Special Advisor on Africa (UN-OSAA), The African Union Commission(AUC), and the World Bank, Japan will continue to lend its full support to an ever more effective and stronger partnership with Africa, promoting African-led peace, security and sustainable development, including stronger health institutions, for an inclusive and brighter future in Africa.

Decoration: The Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star
Contributions: Strengthening economic relations between Japan and Africa through the TICAD process
Major Title: Former United Nations Under-Secretary-General and UNDP Associate Administrator
Nationality: Ethiopia
Address: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
 
SUMMARY OF CONTRIBUTIONS

As a founding co-organiser of TICAD, UNDP has been an essential partner for Japan, sharing the same approaches for advancing human security and ending poverty and inequality with a view to achieving the Millennium Development Goals until 2015 and currently, in the pursuit of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

During his distinguished career, Dr. Gettu made his significant contributions towards strengthening Japan-Africa relations through the TICAD process, including promotion of Japanese and African business linkages.

Under his leadership, many TICAD-UNDP flagship joint initiatives were launched, and he paved the way to establishing several strategic partnerships, such as a tripartite partnership agreement among the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and UNDP, and a framework of partnership with Keizai Doyukai (the Japan Association of Corporate Executives). Both were signed on the margins of TICAD7 on 30^th August 2019.