Jamaica's Oliver Mair to serve as Dean of South Florida Caribbean Consular Corps

Jamaica's Consul General to Miami, Oliver Mair will serve as the Dean of the Caribbean Consular Corps in South Florida. Making the announcement recently, Ambassador Gilbert Boustany, Consul General of Antigua and Barbuda, and Dean of the Consular Corps of Miami, proudly recognized CG Mair as the first Dean of the Caribbean Consular in over seven years. He added that Mair's inspirational, engaging, and dynamic leadership has been well recognized across the diaspora community

Since his appointment at the Consulate General of Jamaica, Miami in October 2018, Mr Mair has fully embraced the community engaging in a record-breaking number of events in an effort to strengthen the diaspora connection of Jamaicans across the 13 Southern States under his jurisdiction Along with Florida, these include Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, North and South Carolinas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas

Along with his Caribbean counterparts, his emphasis on community engagement is evident in the various outreach activities in which the Caribbean Consular Corps were able to provide assistance in areas affected by natural disasters including hurricanes in Belize, The Bahamas, and the volcano in St

Vincent his has also been extended to Caribbean nationals affected in areas in the Southern US region The Consular Corps was also instrumental in leadership as they rose to providing assistance to their Caribbean nationals at home and locally, who were affected during the COVID-19 pandemic During the pandemic the Corps was able to acquire large shipments of personal protective equipment (PPE) for the region These included containers of masks/shields and sanitizers for personal and industrial use Regarding the Jamaican diaspora, Consul General Mair continues to engage nationals in projects to benefit the Jamaican economy as well as the local communities in the Southern USA

These include outreach activities including the Jamaica Stock Market, tourism, agriculture, and real estate which aim to highlight investment opportunities in Jamaica and in the diaspora Through various fundraising initiatives, the Consulate continues to work closely with charitable organizations including alumni associations generating much need resources to Jamaica especially in the areas of health, education, and culture

The Jamaican Consulate General is one of several Florida based Consulates under which the fraternity of the Caribbean Consular Corps was established The Florida Consular Corps is the third largest diplomatic corps in the USA with over 80 countries

The South Florida based Caribbean group consists of several countries including Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago

Stepping into his new role, Mr Mair says he looks forward to serving with his counterparts in areas of mutual interest to benefit the Caribbean region and the United States of America Some of these include disaster awareness and preparedness, improving trade and commerce, tourism, transportation, health, and education

“We look forward to producing great results for the individual countries working together in unity” he said He reiterated that with greater numbers and stronger unity, far more can be achieved