Regional diplomats for two-week training

Regional diplomats were last evening urged to be prepared to deal with the changes occurring in the region and the world as a training programme for mid-career diplomats opened here last evening.

Sixteen Caribbean diplomats are participating in the two-week programme which follows another which was held in Australia earlier this month.

The University of the West Indies and the Australian International University in 2010 had entered into an agreement to deliver an annual training programme for mid-career Caribbean diplomats following the commitment of the Australian government and the Caribbean Community to foster training for diplomats. This year’s programme is being delivered by the Institute of International Relations at the UWI, St. Augustine in collaboration with the Asia-Pacific College of Diplomacy at the Australian National University.

Australian Ambassador to CARICOM, Philip Kentwell (second from left), Foreign Affairs Minister, Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett (second from right), Assistant Secretary General of CARICOM, Colin Granderson (right) and one of the persons involved in the diplomat training programme at the head table at the opening ceremony yesterday.

The Caribbean diplomats travelled to Australia earlier this month where the first modules were delivered. The modules to be covered in Guyana include New Foreign Policy Challenges and Prospects, the changing global environment, Security in the Caribbean, the Environment and Climate Change, New Regional Integration initiatives in the hemisphere, an assessment of the Economic Partnership Agree-ments and negotiation techniques among other contemporary economic and foreign policy issues.

In her feature address, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett said that she is pleased with the attention that Australia is paying to the Caribbean and small states in general. She said that a diplomat is always in training and noting the ever shifting changes in the world, said that consistent training of diplomats is an investment that must be made.

In speaking on the issues to be covered in the programme, the minister pointed to the Economic Partnership Agreement with the European Union which is to be reviewed next year. There are several questions which must be asked including whether the Caribbean is prepared for the review and how the agreement has worked out so far, among other issues.

Rodrigues-Birkett, in relation to the changing economic realities, pointed to the erosion of preferences in trade and said that the region has to be more productive. She said that integration is also critical and also noted the regional integration initiatives and said that the countries must decide what they want from these various organizations.

The minister spoke on the importance for foreign policy coordination on the issues that the partners agree on saying that it would better serve the region if their voices are united on the issues.

Other officials present at the opening were the Australian High Commissioner to CARICOM, Philip Kentwell, Assistant Secretary General to the CARICOM Secre-tariat, Colin Granderson, representative of the Australian National University, Peter Rodgers and programme coordinator, Senior lecturer at the Institute of International Relations, Dr. Mark Kirton.