Sir Ronald Sanders, chief foreign affairs representative with ministerial rank of Antigua and Barbuda was last Wednesday knighted by The Queen at Buckingham Palace.

He was invested with the dignity of Knight Commander of the Most Distinguished Order of St Michael and St George. The award was announced in The Queen’s Birthday Honours List in the UK on June 14 this year.

The 54 year-old Sir Ronald, a former leading broadcaster, has held positions of president of the Caribbean Broadcasting Union, a founding director of the Caribbean News Agency, a board member of UNESCO and was recently elected deputy chairman of the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force. He is the author of a number of publications.

Sir Ronald was previously awarded the Knight Commander of the Order of the Nation from the Government of Antigua and Barbuda.

Before that, and while remaining quite active in the service of Antigua and Barbuda and the Caribbean Community in general, at both regional and international level for a while, whether on tourism, foreign affairs, trade, aid and the off-shore financial sector, Sir Ronald was awarded in 1966 with the Companion of the Most Distinguished Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) by the Queen, who is also head of the Commonwealth.

He has been credited with significantly advancing the interests of the Caribbean region in enhancing UK-Caribbean relations.

Twice high commissioner to London for Antigua and Barbuda, itself an unusual experience in the field of diplomacy, Sir Ronald has been among the key players in fostering what has now emerged as a regular structured dialogue every two years – the Caribbean-UK Forum. The last of such event took place a few months ago in Guyana.

The long and distinguished record of public service rendered by Sir Ronald started in 1978 after he left the position as public affairs adviser to the president of the Caribbean Bank, to become adviser to the then minister of foreign affairs of Antigua and Barbuda, Lester Bird.

Sir Ronald was also awarded the honour of Commandeur l’ordre de Palmes Academiques by the Government of the Republic of France on April 18, 2002 for his contribution to education and culture (taking account of work at UNESCO).

– Reprinted from the Informer Newspaper – Antigua