An in-depth focus on Caribbean issues
Equipping the region’s foreign service
The writer is a business consultant and specialist in Caribbean Affairs
As CARICOM Member States continue to grapple with the effects of the global economic and financial crisis, the CARICOM Secretariat has been addressing the capacity building needs of the region’s foreign service through a Commonwealth-funded initiative supported by the Institute of International Relations (IIR) of the University of the West Indies.

Engaging in economic diplomacy requires our foreign affairs and international trade ministry officials to be well grounded in the theory and practice of diplomacy, international relations, and international trade and investment promotion strategies, among other things.

Beyond the very valuable occasional seminars organized by CARICOM Secretariat, one of the areas that should be accorded a priority by the region’s governments and private sector agencies is more tangible support for IIR, which used to be the premier training ground for Caribbean diplomats and Foreign Service officials.

The Trinidad and Tobago-based Institute has been attracting only a handful of  Caribbean students in recent years. The sprinkling of non-Trinidadian students pursuing the Diploma and Masters Program in International Relations at IIR is partly the result of the dwindling financial resources of Member States and a decline in scholarships.

But it is also because several of the region’s foreign ministries have attempted to run their own foreign service training institutes, most of which are not structured, lack experienced trainers and do not cover in-depth core international relations and international trade training.

While it’s expected that national foreign affairs ministries will have internal training programs to address their own foreign policy objectives, this is not a substitute for much-needed in-depth training at the regional level.

One CARICOM Observer, familiar with many of the region’s foreign ministries, believes many of them lack a coherent foreign policy that is clearly defined, are not well structured and place little emphasis on human resource development.

More recently, the proposal by the Patrick Manning administration to establish a Diplomatic Academy in Trinidad and Tobago that would offer training at a regional level raised eyebrows in diplomatic and academic circles and begged the question: Why was the Institute being overlooked?

Up to the 1980’s, a period in which some of the smaller CARICOM states were still evolving into independence, IIR attracted a good mix of students from across the region, most of whom were relatively new Foreign Service officers, a few mid-career diplomats and some Caribbean professionals looking for a career change.

As a graduate of the Institute in the mid 1980’s, I can attest to the benefits of the training. The IIR Diploma programme, in addition to international relations and diplomacy, covers international trade and economic development, international money and finance, international law and a foreign language.

It is a well-rounded and solid curriculum although the diplomacy aspect, from all accounts, needs to be strengthened.

The Institute has weathered some rough economic times, facing numerous challenges to meeting its operating budget. The cost for non-Trinidadian students has also increased significantly.

Recommendations to Revamp Curriculum

Dr Anthony Peter Gonzales, who was the Institute’s Acting Director for three years, believes the Institute should still maintain its status as the main regional institution providing post graduate training in International Relations, as mandated when it was established in 1966.
A lecturer in international trade and international business at the Institute for several years, Gonzales recommends that the institute seek funding to retain a retired diplomat, on a two or three-year contract, to run a programme that focuses on diplomacy.

He feels that in addition to its academic curriculum, IIR should provide on-going short-term practical diplomatic training programs.

But, Gonzales, who was at one time based in Geneva as the World Trade Organization (WTO) representative of the Regional Negotiating Machinery (RNM now OTN), notes that such a programme would have to be sustained through donor funding.

Dr. Vaughan Lewis, who served as Professor of International Relations of the Caribbean at IIR for 10 years until 2008, shares his sentiments. Lewis advocates more specialised short-term courses in specific disciplines that are directly related to the requirements of the region’s foreign affairs ministries.

A former St Lucian Prime Minister, he recommends programmes that focus on climate change, the diverse implications of globalization for policy-making, issues related to the role of emerging economies and their implications for the Caribbean, and the contemporary implications of Caribbean regional integration.

Lewis, now a Professor Emeritus in International Relations, also believes it would be extremely beneficial to provide training to the region’s foreign service officials that cover the new arrangements between developed and developing countries in the context of the WTO, the various Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) between the African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) States and the European Union (EU), and the possibilities and benefits of new trade negotiations with Canada and the United States.

The Board of IIR, which is in search of a new Director, will hopefully appoint a suitably qualified Caribbean national with a long-term commitment to the job and whose sole focus is the institute.

CARICOM Governments should identify new sources of funding to enable participation in IIR programmes. In recent years, the Institute did undertake in-house programmes in some CARICOM countries and it is now running a Summer Institute, offering short-term courses.
The region’s business conglomerates have an opportunity to be good corporate citizens by providing scholarships to IIR on an annual basis.

Maximising Opportunities

The region’s foreign affairs and trade ministries also need to ensure that they derive the intended benefits of training organised by the CARICOM Office of Trade Negotiations (OTN).

In some cases, Caribbean technicians have been exposed to international agencies, often impressing these organizations, but when some of them return to their respective Ministries, they are promoted away from negotiations into protocol and other areas.

As well, some Foreign Service officers who have been exposed to the operations and programmes of the World Bank and the WTO, through OTN programmes, are not being fully utilised.

In addition to beefing up training for Foreign Service and trade officials, Caribbean economic diplomacy will only yield results if the region’s governments are prepared to overhaul some of their missions, particularly in North America, and provide them with more tangible support.

Several of the Caribbean diplomatic missions, both in New York and Toronto, lack personnel trained or experienced in international trade and investment promotion, and those that do, have limited budgets or promotional material to undertake on-going promotional activities.

A recent case in point was the inability of one CARICOM Consulate to participate in the Ca
ribbean Tourism Week activities in Toronto because it had less than a dozen brochures.

Caribbean governments should also be providing opportunities for its trade officials to pursue the Masters Programme in International Trade at the Shridath Ramphal Centre for International Trade Law, Policy and Services in Barbados.

Any training for the region’s diplomats and trade and investment promotion officials should also focus on negotiating skills, professional selling, public relations, business etiquette and business communication, especially presentation skills.