The Tribune

SIR Ronald Sanders, pictured, a member of the Commonwealth Eminent Persons Group, and an international consultant, writer and former senior Caribbean diplomat, has been honoured by Australia.

Sir Ronald has been appointed to the Order of Australia for “service to Australian relations, particularly concerning Commonwealth issues and advancing the interests of small developing states of the Caribbean region”.

Over the past 30 years, Sir Ronald – who is a weekly columnist in The Tribune – has significantly contributed to expressing the concerns of the Caribbean region, particularly championing the interests of its small developing states, and the Commonwealth.

During the course of his career, he has served on numerous committees and advisory boards formulating and implementing policies that affect the Caribbean and the Commonwealth.

Sir Ronald has been, and is, a voice for the Commonwealth and developing Caribbean states through his diplomatic work and advocacy as well as his many publications and the media.

At the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in November 2009, the Eminent Persons Group was established to undertake an examination of options for reform to bring the Commonwealth’s many institutions into a stronger and more effective framework of cooperation and partnership. Sir Ronald and nine other EPG members produced the report: A Commonwealth of the People – Time for Urgent Reform.

He was an important source of advice to the EPG on the Commonwealth as an institution and on its benefits to the governments and people of all its member states.

Sir Ronald also wrote the initial draft of the report which, when finalised by the EPG, was a centrepiece of discussion at the CHOGM in Perth in October 2011.