B.V.I. Monday, October 26 – Two officials from the Premier’s Office have joined their regional counterparts in St. Lucia this week for a Workshop on the Development of the OECS Foreign Service and School of Diplomacy.
Permanent Secretary Mrs Rosalie Adams and Assistant Secretary with responsibility for External Affairs, Ms. Najan Christopher, are attending the three-day workshop at the Bay Gardens Beach Resort in St. Lucia.
According to the invitational letter from the Director General of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) the workshop is designed to “elaborate on an appropriate model for the OECS School of Diplomacy; to elaborate on the model to be pursued in the development of a fully accredited and well trained Foreign Service Corps and to elaborate on the work plan to map out the steps to be pursued in the building of the institutional architecture (OECS School of Diplomacy) to support the OECS Foreign Service.”
The agenda for the workshop will include various presentations including The Foreign Service and the Diplomatic Career: The Spanish Model; Other Models of Foreign Services, Diplomatic Career and Recruiting Systems; Duties of the Modern Foreign Service; School of Diplomacy: The Spanish Model and Caribbean Model: The Way Forward.
Funding for the St. Lucia workshop was provided by the Government of Spain. In October last year, the OECS and the Diplomatic Academy of Spain entered in a cooperation agreement as part of its efforts to development the School of Diplomacy. According to the OECS letter , the secretariat will be assisted in “the development of a work programme for the establishment of the OECS School of Diplomacy, and provide technical support to the school in respect of accreditation, and the development of the curricula and teaching materials.”
In the BVI, the subject of protocol falls within the portfolio of the Premier’s Office, having been transferred from the Deputy Governor’s Office in the last budget cycle and as such, the ministry will coordinate all aspects of this subject.
The OECS School of Diplomacy was officially launched in March 2008. Since then 160 persons from four member states and the OECS Secretariat have received training through the facility. As an associate member of the OECS, the Territory stands to benefit from the existence of this training facility.
British Virgin Islands News