Claudine Housen, Staff Reporter

FOOTE

WESTERN BUREAU:

There is a need for an expansion of the role and function of honorary consuls across the globe in light of the rapidly changing role of the state in an increasingly globalised world, according to Arnold Foote, dean of the Jamaica Consular Corps.

Mr. Foote, who was speaking yesterday at the opening ceremony of the World Congress of Consuls at the Ritz-Carlton hotel, Montego Bay, St. James, said consular operations must be expanded to encompass the full range of economic, political and diplomatic relations.

"We recognise that, in this globalised world, insularity is a recipe for marginalisation (and) the key to growth and development is partnership within and between nations and organisations in a spirit of mutual respect," he said. "(Therefore) Consular operations can no longer be confined to the issuance of travel documents and attention to the welfare of the nationals in the countries that we represent."

Mr. Foote, noting that globalisation has altered the framework for bilateral and multilateral cooperation, also argued that the expansion of the responsibilities would also assist the diplomatic development of smaller countries.

Important for small states

"This expanded role is particularly important for small states which cannot afford global deployment under foreign service," he said.

Governor-General Professor Kenneth Hall, who official opened the conference, challenged the consuls to look at ways of speeding up the transition process in relation to foreign policy.

"In the negotiations for trade agreements, which are critical to the work of consuls, we have found that all the major trade agreements and discussions that we are in are moving slower than we can expect," he said

"The World Trade Organisation, the Free Trade Areas of the Americas and our relationships with the European Union," the Governor-General added. "In every case the pace has been slow, leaving countries in this trade context in limbo in that they are operating under systems which have become unaccepted and unpopular and yet their new agreements are yet to be put in place."