Daikin executives receive Belgian honour – Cooling Post

BELGIUM: Two of Daikin’s top executives have received Commander in the Order of Leopold awards by the Kingdom of Belgium.

On the proposal of the Belgian minister of foreign affairs, King Philippe, King of the Belgians granted the rank of Commander in the Order of Leopold to Masanori Togawa, president and CEO of Daikin Industries and Masatsugu Minaka, senior executive officer of Daikin Industries and chairman of the board of Daikin Europe.

The award, for individuals who have made outstanding achievements in Belgium, were presented at the Belgian Embassy in Tokyo on May 29. 

The Commander in the Order of Leopold is the highest Order awarded to foreign civilians. The Order has previously been awarded to Daikin Industries chairman Noriyuki Inoue In 2013 and to Frans Hoorelbeke, honourable senior advisor for Daikin Europe in 2017.

Daikin Europe was established in Ostend, Belgium, in 1972 and started producing air conditioners at its factory in Ostend in 1973. 

As president of Daikin, Togawa made decisions regarding business development at the Ostend factory and the decision to build the company’s new €140m R&D centre in Ghent.

Minaka was honoured for his work in Belgium for almost 30 years. He strengthened economic relations between Belgium and Japan through locally-based business activities such as the development, production, sales and servicing of the HVACR business. He was also recognised for his efforts to develop exchange between Japan and Belgium outside the company as an executive of Belgium-Japan Association and Chamber of Commerce and Nihonjinkai, the Japanese Association of Belgium.