Ambassadors meet with students

As the summer holidays continue, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Commerce and Trade is doing its part to encourage Vincentian youths to refrain from being idle and remain focused on achieving their educational goals.{{more}}

At a meeting held at the Methodist Church Hall on Tuesday, July 14, Ambassadors La Celia Prince, Dexter Rose and Camillo Gonsalves met with students from several secondary schools to inspire them to achieve academic greatness by giving them “greater insight” into an ambassador’s role and how diplomacy benefits St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

Prince, who holds the dual post of Ambassador to the United States and to the Organisation of American States (OAS), explained that some of her duties include attracting foreign investment to SVG and promoting the state as a tourist destination. She further explained that the OAS tries to “foster political integration and cooperation, and development” amongst its member states. It also attempts to address the “stark difference in the levels of wealth.”

Prince urged students to make good use of educational opportunities made available to them, and to think carefully about the career paths that they would like to pursue. She emphasized that we now live in a time where the playing field is level, so everyone has equal chances of succeeding. “Open up your minds to the world and beyond… Once you are sufficiently qualified, the world is your oyster!”

Gonsalves, Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations (UN), drove home Prince’s message of reaching for educational excellence. He insisted that the key to progress in SVG is investing in its youth – not placing all our resources in one proverbial basket. This would mean investing in as many sectors as viably possible. “Developing you is the way forward!”

Additionally, Gonsalves pointed out that negative actions taken by first world countries adversely affect SVG and other developing nations. With advances in technology resulting in closer links between SVG and the rest of the world, backlashes from world events (such as the international economic crisis) are more readily felt. “The world is getting smaller and smaller. That’s a good thing and a bad thing.”

He noted that the rest of the world is beginning to rise up economically now that the superpowers are losing their stronghold. “SVG is trying to rise with the rest and take our place at the table.” Despite the many challenges we face, Gonsalves insisted that it is imperative to fight the negatives and build up on the positives. Part of his role as ambassador is to raise SVG’s profile on the world stage through bilateral and multilateral partnerships. “When we insert ourselves in matters of world importance, it comes back to benefit us,” he insisted.

Ambassador to Cuba and non-resident Ambassador to Iran Dexter Rose spoke on the increasing number of educational opportunities that are becoming available to Vincentian nationals for further study in Cuba.

Rose also reminisced on the historical link between Cuba and SVG (as well as other Caribbean nations), when there was mass migration to the Spanish speaking country when Cuba was in an economic boom. He also gave an overview of the events that led up to Cuba being alienated from the rest of the world. He did, however, point out that several Caribbean nations have been banding together to break Cuba’s isolation in the region.

Additionally, Rose highlighted Cuba’s involvement in SVG’s health, education and construction sectors, in our quest for national development. In particular he made mention of the ‘Vision Now’ initiative and the contributions towards the completion of the Argyle International Airport.

The ambassadors took part in a ‘question and answer’ session with the students, who seemed genuinely interested in their diplomatic roles and were eager to garner more information on the ways in which they could advance their education and career paths.

E. Bernard John, representing the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, chaired the meeting. He explained that the event had been organized to take advantage of the presence of all heads of missions and consulates in state for the annual consultation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.(JSV)