EVEN as efforts are continually being made to ensure that the country’s foreign service is operating at its optimum, Foreign Affairs Minister Carl Greenidge has noted that his ministry continues to struggle when it comes to the widening of skills there.

“We are still struggling to widen the intake of skills that the ministry needs, but a good part of the work has to be done on those who are already here,” Greenidge said Monday in response to questions posed by the Guyana Chronicle.

He explained that while continuous training is on-going, his ministry is in need of persons skilled in the area of law, chemical warfare, the economy, as well as languages. “We are fighting that battle on a range of fronts,” the foreign affairs minister stated, while admitting that the process of retooling “has been going with some difficulty.”

Greenidge made it clear that his ministry cannot be effectively retooled if the Public Service Commission (PSC) continues to send large numbers of persons to the ministry for employment in the same discipline. “…they unloaded them on us the week before they demitted office — this is what I regard as completely irresponsible behaviour,” the foreign affairs minister declared.

But notwithstanding the challenges, Greenidge told the Guyana Chronicle that his ministry has been trying to cope with that which exists. The retooling efforts he disclosed have been supplemented by the approval given by Cabinet to source persons with the necessary skillsets. “Cabinet has given us, in exceptional circumstances and failing the PSC to recruit a range of skills to treat with for example the lawyers, we have been asking for lawyers for years and we weren’t able to recruit any,” he stated.

The hiring of lawyers, he said, has been done under exceptional circumstances, but other skills are needed. “Work is being done trying to supplement the trade department; we have also tried to ensure that those who are here undertake more training. So, you have a diplomatic programme that some of them are attending in Austria in August; this is in mainstream diplomacy — issues to do with law, strategic issues etc.,” he said, while noting that the United Nations addresses a number of issues with which foreign service personnel at all levels ought to be au fait.

Additionally, Greenidge noted that many experts, including professors of law out of Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom from time to time visit Guyana to conduct lectures via the Foreign Service Institute. Also, continuous courses are being offered not only to staff of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs but also other public servants in the foreign languages. Thus far, much emphasis has been placed on Spanish with assistance being provided by Colombia and Chile. Currently, a number of staff of the ministry are part of a Dutch class and classes in Portuguese are also slated to begin soon. “We try to do as much as we can in the difficult circumstances,” said Greenidge.