Your Excellencies,
Honorable Colleagues,

FICAC, the World Federation of Consuls, was founded in Copenhagen on 2 October 1982 by a small group of visionaries led by Consul General Vagn Jespersen of Denmark. Countries present at the meeting and first signatories were Finland, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Norway, Sweden and Denmark. Its role is to bring together Consular Associations or Corps from all over the world to share experiences and co-ordinate efforts to enhance the status and effectiveness of the Consul – the oldest institution serving international bilateral relations. So FICAC is a global network of consular associations created to support and improve the status, legitimacy and effectiveness of all consular officers in all receiving states.

Its aims are to promote and strengthen mutual understanding between honorary consuls and career consuls world- wide; to develop a framework and basis for the exchange of current information, ideas and suggestions regarding matters related to the offices of honorary consuls and career consuls; and to promote – at the national and inter- national level – a better understanding of duties and responsibilities.

The World Federation of Consuls has United Nations recognition with ECOSOC status and it is also recognized by the European Union, which recently held a European Council- FICAC forum in Brussels. After the first meeting in 1982, the federation held two more meetings in Copenhagen to draw up a working constitution called the Copenhagen Statutes and to give shape to the world body.

Since then, general assemblies have been held every three years. The first general assembly, later also called the World Congress of Consuls, was held in Vienna in 1988. It was attended by 132 honorary consuls from 21 countries. Later assemblies took place in Monaco in 1992; Limassol, Cyprus in 1995; Eilat, Israel in 1998; Curacao in 2000; Athens, Greece in 2003 – where I had the honor of chairing the program committee; Montego Bay, Jamaica in 2006; Izmir, Turkey in 2009; and, in November 2012 marking FICAC’s 30th anniversary in Monaco for the second time, with more than 350 delegates.

FICAC has been led by distinguished persons since its inception:
• Consul General Vagn Jespersen of Denmark 1982 – 1995,
• Consul General Andreas Mavromma- tis of Cyprus 1995 – 2000,
• Consul General Peter Gad Naschitz of Israel 2000 – 2003,
• Consul General Roland Dahlman of Sweden 2003 – 2006, and
• Consul General Arnold Foote of Jamaica since 2006.

The federation has achieved international recognition and influence. Today it has over 87 member associations and affiliated members on its roster.

The year 2006, under incumbent President Arnold Foote’s leadership, marked a watershed in the history of FICAC, opening new horizons. A new logo for FICAC, the FICAC News and the FICACWORLD website were created. FICAC international trade expos and FICAC international cultural galas were started to promote direct trade between the sending states and the receiving states and to inspire consuls to turn into caring consuls. Trade fairs have been held in many countries. The fairs were supported by the respective governments and were highly successful.

The FICAC Gold Star was created as a mark of the highest honor in recognition of the excellent work of world leaders and has been awarded to heads of state or government such as the Prime Minister of Jamaica, the President of the Republic of Turkey, Prince Albert II of Monaco, the President of Ghana, the President of the European Council, the President of the Philippines and His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI.

To promote charity as part of consular activities, a FICAC/UNICEF program was formulated to raise funds for the benefit of underprivileged children afflicted with HIV/AIDS. The FICAC world is divided into 14 regions with separate regional committees. In addition, the administration set up 18 subject committees to attend to matters of political, social and cultural importance.

In the Izmir World Congress of 2009, a declaration envisioning the future of FICAC was finalized. The ‘Guidelines for Honorary Consuls’ were drawn up by the Board of Directors in its meeting in Milan, Italy on 22 May 2010. In 2009, at a conference in Dubai, President Foote’s ‘The Way Forward’ program was unanimously approved by the Board of Directors. The program created new structures and designed guidelines for each structure. In January 2012, a FICAC delegation led by President Arnold Foote met with the Chairman of the US House of Representatives and Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of Congress, as well as other congressmen in Washington, DC and apprised them of the aims and objectives of FICAC, its role towards consular associations worldwide and its relations with international organizations.

2012 was the year of the 30th anniversary of FICAC. To mark the historic occasion, consular corps around the world hosted dinners and gave donations for educational purposes. In 2013, a delegation met with the President of the UN Assembly, H.E. Vuc Jeremic, and an event and reception were organized in New York to celebrate the 50th year from the signing of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. On the same occasion the Secretary General of the United Nations addressed the federation and our president was invited to contribute with an article entitled New Security Risks & Challenges for Consuls which was published in the United Nations Chronicle.

I would like to invite you to visit the federation’s web page at www.ficacworld.org for more information. And now allow me to briefly speak about the history of consuls. Consular relations have been established between peoples since ancient times. The history of the consular function is largely associated with the development of international trade and the economic interest of states.

Tracing the history of consular functions, one comes across the classical term ‘proxenos,’ which meant a (usually prominent) citizen of a city state, who felt friendship towards another city state and therefore he voluntarily took up some of the roles which are fulfilled, in present times, by honorary consuls. The proxenos also used all his contacts and influence to support friendship or alliance with the town which he voluntary represented like, for example, Kimon, a proxenos of Sparta in Athens who operated there even before the outbreak of the first Peloponnesian War, nearly 2,500 years ago.

The origin of honorary consuls can be traced back to the 8th century, especially to China, India, and the middle eastern regions. In Europe, the origin of the consular institution takes us to ancient Greece where, in the 12th century, the first form of the consul emerged and developed into its present and more complex structure. The official Consular Corps was first established in France at the end of the 18th century. Other states soon followed. The office of the honorary consul was originally sanctified by common law. The extraordinary increase of consulates during the 19th and 20th centuries highlighted the need for a more precise legal framework, particularly concerning the consular service and the status of consuls.

After years of consultations and preliminary work, the United Nations Conference on Consular Relations met in Vienna, Austria and adopted, on 24 April 1963, the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations and two optional protocols. The convention ‘baptized’ both categories of consuls, gave them a legal status, invested them with UN authority and gave them global reach and recognition. Over ninety countries as well as several international organizations attended the conference. It came into force on 19 March 1967. To date there are 176 state parties to the convention.

Excerpt from Hon. Aykut Eken’s speech