Ministry of foreign affairs officials from Guyana, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Trinidad and Tobago, will participate in the University of the West Indies (UWI) Diplomatic Academy of the Caribbean (DAOC) four-day conference for foreign affairs officials from Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries later this month.
“The Diplomatic Academy remains committed to addressing its core constituency’s upskilling needs in the specialzed area of consular affairs, helping to position a new generation of career Foreign Service Officers to hone and apply new skills and competencies regarding the effective management of consular and diplomatic functions in the 21st century,” said DAOC manager, Dr. Nand C. Bardouille.
“The constancy of the traditional responsibilities of consulates is there for all to see, but new challenges arising in our interconnected world give renewed impetus to revisit responsibilities and approaches necessary to achieve the goals of the consular function.
“In an era of ever-increasing complexity with regard to policy issues of import to CARICOM states from migration to human trafficking and the wide-ranging impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the region, among others, it behooves the consular officer/agent to keep abreast of the state of the art and best practice in the profession; hence this module offering,” Bardouille said.
The DAOC said the March 21-24 “Advances in Consular Affairs in the Modern Diplomatic Mission: A Caribbean Perspective module contributes to a better understanding of the assistance function, the changing mercantile function, consular governance, relationships with the Diaspora and locating consular affairs within the diplomatic function from a Caribbean point of view.
“This module also focuses on the impact of crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic on consular affairs generally and specifically, within the Caribbean context,” DAOC said, adding that retired diplomat and protocol consultant Gail P. Guy, will be the lead facilitator with the co-facilitator being Dr. Natalie Dietrich Jones, Research Fellow at the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies at The UWI Mona campus in Jamaica.
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