NRI MEP Claude Moraes receives V K Krishna Menon award 2009

LONDON: NRI Member of the European Parliament, Claude Ajit Moraes, received the V K Krishna Menon award for 2009 for outstanding achievement as a young Parliamentarian.

Moraes was presented the award by Dr Cyriac Maprayil, Director of London-based V K Krishna Menon Institute, here last evening.

Moraes is the Deputy Leader of the European Parliamentary Labour Party and Spokesperson for the Socialist and Democrat Group in the European Union on Justice and Home Affairs.

Former British Home Minister Sir Peter Lloyd inaugurated the ceremony by lighting the traditional Indian lamp in the presence of leading NRIs at the Malabar Junction Restaurant here.

Receiving the award, Moraes, an immigrant from southern Indian state of Karnataka, and a relation of acclaimed Indian journalist late Frank Moraes, described V K Krishna Menon as a "statesman who encapsulated all that is good in Indian values, diplomacy and leadership."

Moraes, who had met Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh while leading an NRI parliamentarian delegation last November, said "as a British Indian who now represents our capital in Europe, I am aware how India's status in the world is changing rapidly."