New Delhi, Nov 08 (ANI): Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Vice President Rahul Gandhi on Saturday congratulated former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on being conferred with Japan’s highest civilian honour ‘Grand Cordon of the Order of the Paulownia Flowers’. Senior party leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Ghulam Nabi Azad were also present. Singh was offered with flowers and shawl in respect by the Congress leaders. The Japanese government headed by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday announced that it had conferred a rare civilian honour on Singh for enhancing ties between Asia’s second and third largest economies. Singh is the first Indian to be bestowed with the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Paulownia Flowers, which is a ‘high level National Order’, a statement from the Japanese embassy said.
