The coordinator of the Center for Agribusiness Studies (FGVAgro) at the FGV Sao Paulo School of Economics (FGV EESP), Roberto Rodrigues, has received an Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star. This honor, bestowed by the Japanese government as part of its autumn awards in the first year of the Reiwa era, recognizes Rodrigues’ contributions as Brazil’s agriculture minister from 2003 to 2006, a member of the advisory board of Japan House and a member of the Group of Notables of the Japan-Brazil Cooperation Committee.

As a professor and cooperative movement leader, Rodrigues has been responsible for promoting and expanding Brazil’s system of agricultural and credit cooperatives. He has also worked actively to exchange information with senior Japanese authorities, helping greatly to strengthen agricultural relations between Japan and Brazil.

As a scholar of Japan, he has been a member of the Brazilian section of the Group of Notables for a Strategic Economic Partnership Between Brazil and Japan since it was founded. In this role, he has instigated and supported constructive discussions between the two countries, focusing on the core subject of agribusiness.