Ambassador Paul Robotham says feelings of honour and humbleness came over him after he was awarded with the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star from the Japanese Government on Tuesday.

Ambassador Robotham started out in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade in 1981, then was appointed ambassador of Jamaica to Japan from 2003 to 2007. He later became the under-secretary for the Bilateral, Regional and Hemispheric Affairs Division, then became the permanent secretary and head of the Jamaican Foreign Service in 2012.

The Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star is a national decoration awarded by the Japanese Government to those who make distinguished contributions in international relations.

“I recognise that it’s less for my personal merit and more for the strong tides of friendship between Jamaica and Japan. I’ve been privileged over the years to work a lot on Jamaica-Japan bilateral relation and Japan-Caricom relations,” Robotham told the Jamaica Observer after the ceremony for the conferment held at the Japan Embassy in Kingston.

“Japan’s Ambassador to Jamaica Masaya Fujiwara kindly took the initiative to nominate me for this award and in doing so, he is really honouring the Jamaican foreign service which has a tradition of excellence which is recognised abroad,” he added.

Meanwhile, Japan’s Ambassador to Jamaica Masaya Fujiwara praised Robotham for his great work over the years.

“Ambassador Robotham was consistently dedicated to strengthening the amicable relationship between Japan and Jamaica, first as ambassador to Japan and then as a senior official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade of Jamaica. His contribution to our bilateral relationship has been exceptional as he laid the groundwork of the prosperous Jamaica-Japan J-J Partnership,” said Fujiwara.

Pointing to some of his achievements, he said, “In September 2015, Ambassador Robotham, as permanent secretary, was positively involved in the visit of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to Jamaica, the very first visit of Japan’s prime minister to Jamaica, and contributed greatly to its success. ‘Enhancing the partnership between Japan and Jamaica’, otherwise known as the J-J Partnership signed by Prime Minister Simpson Miller and Prime Minister Abe, was a significant foundation for strengthening bilateral relations,” he said.

According Japan’s ambassador to Jamaica, Robotham’s dedicated effort towards enhancing bilateral relationships created close and amicable relations between Japan and Jamaica, which would have led to a visit to Japan by Foreign Affairs Minister Kamina Johnson Smith in 2016, a visit by Prime Minister Andrew Holness in 2019 and Minister of Foreign Affairs for Japan Toshimitsu Motegi’s visit to Jamaica in 2021.