On the morning of November 16th, 2017, Mr. Xie Yuan, Vice President of the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC), accompanied by Mr. Chen Dong, Minister Counsellor of the Chinese Embassy in Belgium, paid special visit to the mansion of the late Henri Lederhandler who was one of the founders of Belgium-China Association and the first Chairman of Belgium-China Economic and Trade Committee, and awarded posthumously “Friendship Ambassador” to him. This Prize was the first time to confer to Belgian friendly personage. His wife was moved deeply and expressed that her husband devoted all his life to promoting the friendship between Belgium and China, and that all her family members felt honorable for this award.

At the early period of the exchanges between Belgium and China, a group of people with lofty ideals broke through the resistances and dedicated to establishing and developing the friendly exchanges with China. Henri Lederhandler was one of the outstanding representatives among them and one of the founders of Belgium-China Association as well as the pioneer of the friendly exchanges and the economic and trade cooperation between the two countries. In 1960s, He assisted and promoted Belgian Queen Elizabeth to visit China, which became the icebreaker trip for the exchanges between China and Belgium. In 2012, Mr. Li Keqiang, then Vice Premier of the State Council of China, paid special visit to Henri Lederhandler during his official visit to Belgium and kindly called him as “ a friend of Chinese people forever”.