Fri | Nov 15, 2024

Diplomats mingle

Published:Friday | January 28, 2011 | 12:00 AM
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Mathu Joyini (right), new South African high commissioner to Jamaica, raps with Ambassador Evadne Coye and French Ambassador Marc-Olivier Gendry.
Ambassador of Guinea Hadiatou Sow (left) and Senegalese ambassador, Dr Nafissatou Diagne, redefine regal chic.
Consul to Jordan Joseph Handal (left) and wife Gladys rap with Kevin and Kimberly Chin Shue.
Engaged in lively banter are (from left) Lois Lake-Sherwood, Indera Persaud, Keva Hylton, Grantley Stephenson and his wife, Judith. - photos by Winston Sill/Freelance Photographer
Honorary Consul to Finland Andrew Issa (right) introduces his ambassador, Mikk Pyhala (second left), to Maria Cuna (left) and Clelia Barreto de Hunter.
Honorary Consul to The Netherlands Robert Cartade lymes with assistant Pauline Edie (right) and good friend Novlette Green.
Dominican Republic ambassador, Dr Jose Tomas Ares (left), has a coy look for the camera as he lymes with Ecuadorian Consul Clelia Barreto de Hunter (second left), his son Alfredo and Mexican Ambassador Leonora Rueda.
Mozambique Ambassador Daniel Antonio and wife Maria Cuna (centre) share lens time with Elizabeth Ntwaagae of Botswana.
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Daviot Kelly, Staff Reporter

There's probably no happier gathering than when diplomats and consuls get together and break bread.

And that has been a staple of Diplomatic Week in Jamaica. This week, the tradition continued (this is the 13th staging) and on Tuesday, the Consular Corps of Jamaica did its part by hosting the ambassadors and high commissioners to a reception at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel.

Vice-Dean of the Corps, Grantley Stephenson (representing new dean Arnold Foote who was unavoidably absent), had a special welcome for the non-resident heads of mission who were visiting Jamaica for the first time and had come to present their credentials. He assured them the evening was for relaxation as all the meetings and forums were for another time.

Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Minister Dr Ken Baugh said he appreciated the service given by the corps' members and said the Government would be leaning on them and Jamaica's appointed delegates abroad to assist in attracting business interests from the countries they represent.

Stephenson then made two presentations, one to the dean of the local diplomatic corps, Venezuelan Ambassador Noel Martinez, for his continued support of the consuls, and the other to The Jamaica Pegasus (accepted by hotel manager Nancy McLean) for its efforts in hosting the gathering annually.

Diplomatic Week was the initiative of the then State Minister for Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Anthony Hylton, and current permanent secretary, Ambassador Evadne Coye.