Heads of missions and consulates meet for annual consultation

Heads of Vincentian missions and consulates in the Diaspora have converged locally for their annual consultation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Consumer Affairs.{{more}}

The consultation, which will conclude on Thursday, July 14, is the first that Minister Douglas Slater is overseeing in his capacity as head of that ministry.

At the opening of the consultation on Monday, July 11, Slater outlined the objectives, and reassured the public that Vincentian ambassadors are working effectively to maintain and improve our nation’s foreign relationships.

“We are benefitting from our foreign policies tremendously! We cannot let up,” he said.

Slater added that many people criticise the work that ambassadors do – deeming it “begging” – but that is far from accurate.

“Some people think that we are only on the receiving end… We are not only receiving from our partners. Partnership, in any context, is [about] sharing the benefits,” he pointed out.

The consultation has three main objectives, namely: to provide reports on the operations of the embassies and consulates for the past year; to address administrative problems which affect the smooth operations of the respective offices; and to provide an update on overall priority needs of the different ministries, statutory bodies and the private sector.

In brief remarks, Andreas Wickham, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that “in these challenging times”, it is even more important to strengthen our ties to foreign nations, and to secure new allies.

Minister Slater acknowledged that there are those who criticise this stance, and urged them to remember the objectives of Vincentian foreign policy.

He also said that in pursuit of those objectives, the Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves often comes under a negative light, because his actions are seen as “contradictory”.

“Sometimes what is not understood is termed contradictory,” explained Slater.

“St. Vincent is standing with allies that are diametrically apart… but we try to be friends of all and enemies of none.”

He added: “Contradiction is sometimes a stimulus for progress… I endorse that [kind of] contradiction.”

In his presentation, Slater spoke of various incidences where the support of St. Vincent and the Grenadines has been called upon on the international stage.

One such situation was the recent appointment of a Brazilian as the Director General of the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), in which there was in close contention for the post with Spain – and Brazil won by a mere four votes.

“Without the support of St. Vincent and the Grenadines and the CARICOM in general, it would have gone another way,” he said.

Slater said that it is important – in the quest to improve SVG and the lives of its nationals – to have allies that hold clout at the UN level.