Hon. Dr. Kenneth Baugh, seen above, addressing the FICAC Caribbean Regional Consular Conference.First, let me thank FICAC and Dr. Mirza Baig, Director of FICAC, who flew for 20 hours to be in Jamaica for this event, for the generosity and kindness shown to myself and the Foreign Ministry.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade has earned a reputation of excellence and I am always proud whenever I travel to regional and international conferences and other delegations commend the contributions of their Jamaican counterparts. Here too, many are the members of the Diplomatic and Consular Corps who have spoken in high praise of the work of my Ministry and the expertise of our Foreign Service Officers.

This signal honour of the FICAC Award of Distinction is one which I receive on behalf of the Jamaican Foreign Service which I am honoured to lead. I am deeply grateful for this recognition which carries with it the charge to my Ministry to maintain and even improve on its high standards in these very challenging times. Occasions such as these always are a source of great encouragement to our hard-working staff. Yet I must acknowledge those who would be inscribed on the Ministry’s Hall of Fame were we to install one.

We recall with pride:

• Sir Edgerton Richardson, fondly thought of as the father of the Foreign Service because of the solid guidance he gave in the early years after its inception;
• Ambassador Don Mills, who represented Jamaica with excellence and in such fine style at the United Nations, chairing the Security Council at times of conflict during Jamaica’s first membership in 1979-1980;
• Ambassador Frank Francis, who was a chief negotiator in Brussels in the seventies in the ACP relations with the EU and was, to date, the longest serving Permanent Secretary of the Ministry;
• Ambassador Carmen Parris, our first female Ambassador who continued the Jamaican profile of excellence in Brussels;
• Ambassador Lucille Mair, another outstanding Ambassador to the UN, who served as our first Under Secretary in that Organization
• Ambassador Patricia Durrant, diplomat par excellence, who served as our Ambassador to the UN during our second membership of the Security Council and was appointed by the then UN Secretary General H.E. Kofi Annan, as the first ever Ombudsman of the UN.

I have listed three men and three women as a sample of the heritage of intellect and indisputable expertise which have earned the Ministry the reputation it enjoys and maintains.

FICAC Praised;
Our relationship with the Consular Corps of Jamaica and through you, President Foote, with FICAC, is one which I have enjoyed. I look forward to the continued relationship between us and with my Ministry’s staff. We have to ensure that we engage in productive and targeted advocacy for the improvement of the quality of life of all our peoples.

Mr. President, allow me to welcome the non-Jamaican participants in this regional conference to beautiful Jamaica and to our capital city Kingston. Jamaica, as you all know, is a country that has produced many firsts – particularly in sports and academia. Although we are small in size, we have made our mark on the world stage and continue to do so. In similar vein, I want to single out your own President, the Hon. Arnold Foote for special mention in his role as the World President of the Federation of Consuls. This is a Jamaican who continues to make us proud through his advocacy in the consular community and in his service to his country. I want to congratulate him on the strides he has made both as President of the FICAC and in his primary role as a nation-builder and as a leader in the local Consular corps. I know that hosting this meeting is of special importance to Arnold and his team and I wish you all success in your deliberations.

I have taken note that next year is an important one for you as a Federation; you will mark thirty (30) years since your establishment in Copenhagen in 1982. Your World Congress in Monaco scheduled for 2012 will no doubt be a time for celebration and for serious reflection as you examine what the next years will bring in terms of growth and positive change. For Jamaica, we will also have an important year – our 50th Year of Independence which, God willing, we will celebrate with exciting national events which will also include our Diaspora spread across the world. Indeed, we will be using the time to also reflect on the goals and objectives which we have set ourselves with a view to the future which we want to fashion as a nation state and as a vital part of the Caribbean region.

Jamaica’s Honorary Consuls remain critical elements in our ability to maintain important contacts with the rest of the world. With only nineteen Embassies worldwide, we rely on our Consular Corps network, particularly in sub- regions like the Eastern Caribbean. We recognize that broadening that consular network will have to be part of a more modern approach to expanding our influence and our coverage overseas.

Your theme for this regional conference is: “Enhancing intra-Caribbean relations”, which is very relevant. It speaks especially to how we craft our development objectives in the medium to long term. The theme implies that you, as Consular representatives, recognize the specific and critical role you play in supporting the region’s development objectives.

I want to speak briefly on some of the key trends/policy issues in intra-Caribbean relations that are occupying the minds of CARICOM Foreign Ministers and their advisors and indeed perhaps the wider Caribbean policy community. There is a very dynamic and fluid set of considerations which we need to grapple with in our region. I speak here of the elements behind the “politics of unity” that we seek to forge as a region with all the visioning, the advocacy and the renewed energy which will propel the engagement we seek. I want to point to the following: Challenges in CARICOM and the integration process, the CSME project, developments in our neighbouring country Haiti and finally, the gains that we expect from the Summit on Integration and Development (the CALC/CELAC process) – all of which are essential parts of the intra-Caribbean relationship in its various stages of development.

I could touch on much more,
but time does not permit.

Firstly CARICOM in its 38th Year of establishment;

As we think through intra-Caribbean relations, we recognize the public perception that CARICOM is failing and that there is an implementation deficit. Clearly we need to do more to demonstrate that there is much good that is happening in the CARICOM sub region. Most of this negative perception is bolstered by the complexity of the integration process. Our CARICOM region has growing populations which speak three different languages: English, French and Dutch, and are scattered across one of the largest salt water seas in the world, with an area of over 1 million square miles. A major challenge is inadequate transportation and airlift across and between countries, but our political will must forge stronger ties in foreign policy coordination, functional cooperation and enhanced trading relations. We look forward to the new energy which the new Secretary General for CARICOM will bring to the post and to the organizational review of the CARICOM Secretariat which will set the stage for new and better management of the integration building project.

CSME and Trade relations

15 million consumers form our potential market for goods and services. Approximately 6,000 Skills certificates have been issued as part of the facilitation of movement of skilled and semi skilled labour, approved since the signing of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas in 2001. There is much work to be done to grasp the potential for enhancing trade and attracting investments, both within the region and external to the region. I remain bullish that there are opportunities which our private sectors, including the small and micro-enterprises, can and must seize if Jamaica is to attain the objectives of Vision 2030.

Developments in Haiti post 2010

We continue to pay special attention to our sister state Haiti particularly given the specific political, social and economic assistance that is required by them for the reconstruction of that noble society with its rich and colourful history. Haiti must remain at the top of our agendas as members of the foreign policy community and we must work with President Miguel Martelly and his elected officials to bring our full weight behind their efforts at rebuilding and crafting a new and better future for themselves. The international donor community must be encouraged to continue to help in this regard.

Widening and Deepening – the Summit on Integration and Development CALC/CELAC process

We look forward to the convening of the CALC Summit later this year. The success of the efforts of former President Lula of Brazil in the early years and the strong support given by President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, moved this process for deepening of relations between Latin America and the Caribbean and the Caribbean, the CELAC – a historic example of how we can widen the axis of support and cooperation in this region and in the hemisphere.

I have touched on all these policy matters which all lie behind the “ politics of unity” that we seek so ardently to realize as part of our several foreign policy agendas here in the region. I want too to commend the Consular representatives for the role that you are playing and have played. Still, I would suggest that perhaps now is the time for an enhanced role; a more targeted engagement even as you seek to negotiate an amendment to the Vienna Convention to underline the value and role of the worldwide network of Honorary Consuls.

I would ask you in your discussions on this topic to think through how you might better contribute to the following broad areas:

• Boosting intra-Caribbean trade, fostering investment in agroprocessing, and in the area of trade in services, improving intra-regional transportation for people and goods;
• Engaging in the new growth area of cultural and sporting industries which have been identified as critical realms for Jamaica and indeed several other CARICOM states;
• Examining the changing nature of your own role both in economic and in trade diplomacy. Especially in our Caribbean region, you are called to make a new commitment to represent the Sending state on a variety of complex issues which go beyond the normal role of the Consul.
• Investing in training, particularly cross-training as a group which is critical to your success as representatives- FICAC must seek to build a tradition where Consular representatives operate more efficiently and demonstrate higher levels of service to the public and to the society at large. The more seasoned of you have a responsibility to the newer members of the fold – to give advice, to pass on the “secrets” of the power of networking, to open doors where doors and create development opportunities and to make the Consular Community a stronger, more unified voice in the wider universe of foreign policy professionals.

There is a clear purpose for your Federation, a purpose whose pursuit is even more urgent for the Caribbean region. We must strive to build in a unified way, conscious of the mantle that has been passed on to us and looking to the future that we must shape for generations yet unborn.

I thank you.