ANNUAL AMBASSADORS ISSUE
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SPECIAL FEATURE
AMBASSADORS
YOUR GUIDE TO
)1&%77= 63; BY ROLAND FLAMINI
VLORA ÇITAKU of KOSOVO (Photo by Tony Powell)
THE NEWEST AMBASSADORS s REGIONAL DIPLOMACY VLORA ÇITAKU’S ROAD FROM REFUGEE TO ENVOY s THE ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN STATES THE SEARCH FOR A NEW U N SECRETARY GENERAL s AMBASSADOR’S WIVES INTERNATIONAL CLUBS s ADVICE FOR THE NEW PRESIDENT
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NEW ON THE BLOCK Who are the latest arrivals on Embassy Row?
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n the moving village that is the diplomatic community, barely half of the ambassadors who presented their credentials in 2016 are career diplomats. No country appeared to follow the U.S. system of handing out key ambassadorships to the highest bidder, but the new arrivals include a handful of former government ministers and several business executives, no doubt reflecting one of modern diplomacy’s current priorities — global trade. >> ANDORRA: Historian E L I S E N DA V I V E S BALMANA leads a double
life. She is the ambassador to Washington from the tiny principality nestling in the Pyrenees between Spain and France; but she is also her country’s permanent representative to the United Nations and resides in New York. Vives Balmana was previously Andorra’s ambassador to Italy and Morocco,.
ARGENTINA: To many Argentinians, Ambassador MARTIN LOUSTEAU is probably best known as the husband of Carla Peterson, one of the country’s leading film and stage stars. But Lousteau, 45, has been a fixture in Argentine political and economic affairs since his 30s. A graduate of the London School of Economics, he was briefly minister of economy and production in the administration of President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, but resigned over policy disagreements. He stood successfully for parliament in 2013, and founded his own political party. In 2012, he was selected as a World Fellow at Yale, where he met and married Peterson. President Mauricio Macri, a
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political opponent, appointed Lousteau ambassador to the United States. Mending fences in Argentina’s bi-lateral relationship with the U.S. tops his list of objectives, he says. Argentina “wants to have mature, open, frank, straightforward relationships with all countries – and the U.S. is very important to us.”
ARMENIA: GRIGOR HOVHANNISSIAN
moved to his country’s foreign service after extensive field experience with the United Nations, including work on the Middle East peace process. He has been the U.N. field coordinator in the Palestinian territories, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip (2002-2003), and adviser to the U.N. Assistance Mission in Iraq (2004). Earlier posts with the world organization included human rights assignments in Kinshasa and Brazzaville and work on the U.N. Special Mission to the African Great Lakes Region. A graduate of the state university of his native Yerevan (where he also taught from 2005-2008), and the Fletcher School of Law and Democracy at Tufts University, his first overseas diplomatic post in Armenia’s foreign service was consul general in Los Angeles from 2009 to 2013. In 2014, Hovhannissian was appointed Armenia’s ambassador to Mexico, and in January 2016 took over the Armenian mission in Washington.
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AUSTRIA: “My first six months as Austrian ambassador to the United States felt a little bit like back to the future,” WOLFGANG WALDNER
says. That’s because, as with many foreign chiefs
of mission, this is not his first American posting. In the 1980s and 1990s ,Waldner spent 15 years in the United States, first at the embassy and then in New York as director of the Austrian Cultural Forum. Most recently, he was director of cultural policy at the Austrian Foreign Ministry. But it’s not culture that Americans want to talk about, or about his wife and two daughters, or even the ambassador’s passion for tennis. “From presenting my credentials to President Obama, everyone wants to know how Austria, as a European Union member state, has been coping with the influx and transit of several hundred thousand migrants since last autumn,” he says.
BELGIUM: Before coming to Washington DIRK WOUTERS, Belgium’s new ambassador, was accredited to a foreign state but living at home. That’s because he was Belgium’s permanent representative to the Brussels-headquartered European Union. Wouters has spent much of his career as a senior diplomat in posts connected in one way or another with the EU, and has been involved in the creation of its formative treaties – Maastricht, Amsterdam, Nice and Lisbon. In his early years he had two postings in Rome in which to hone his love for Italian culture. A graduate of the London School of Economics, he has been a visiting lecturer at various European universities, including the formidable Paris Institute of Political Studies (the Sciences Po), breeding ground of French politicians.
WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE THE NEW PRESIDENT? “Remember, Armenia is your best friend.” — Amb Grigor Hovhannissian
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BRAZIL: Ambassador SERGIO SILVA DO AMARAL is no stranger
to Washington. He served in the Brazilian embassy and was Brazil’s governor at the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. He has been in government as the spokesman of President Fernando Cardoso, and later minister of development, industry and foreign trade. In commerce, he has headed the Brazilian coffee producers’ organization and other trade groups. He also lists two previous ambassadorial appointments – to the United Kingdom and France.
BOSNIAHERZEGOVINA: This once turbulent Balkan nation’s diplomatic representation in Washington has so far been an all in the family affair. HARIS HRLE’s predecessor once removed was his motherin-law: When Hrle was posted to Austria, his first ambassadorship, his wife’s mother, Bisera Turkovic, headed Bosnia-Herzegovina’s embassy in Washington. Then, from 20132016, Hrle served in Saudi Arabia. “What is important for us is to keep the host country informed of all the details related to our nation,” he says. And Bosnia-Herzegovina does take some explaining. For example, aside from its double name, the country has three presidents, each representing one of its three component ethnic groups, Serbs, Croats and Muslims. BULGARIA: TIHOMIR STOYTCHEV, Bulgaria’s new ambassador, was most recently foreign policy secretary to the Bulgarian president, a post he held from 2012. But this is not his first Washington assignment. He was economic counselor from 2007-2007 and charge d’affaires in 2008, at the end of Elena Poptodorova’s first
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ambassadorial term. He returned to hold the fort again as charge in 2010 until Poptodorova returned for a second posting. Stoytchev says he will be working on the addition of Bulgaria to the U.S. visa waiver program, which some consider a challenge at a time when Congress is more disposed to restricting, rather than facilitating, foreign visitors’ access.
BRUNEI DARUSSALAM: DATO SERBINI ALI was appointed ambassador to the United States just days before Brunei and 11 other states signed the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement, the landmark Pacific trade deal designed to foster greater economic cooperation. At a time of declining oil prices for the Pacific sultanate, greater economic engagement with the United States is a welcome prospect, and one of Serbini Ali’s priorities is lobbying for ratification of the TPP in Congress – an increasingly unlikely development prior to the presidential elections. Serbini, who holds a degree in law and diplomacy from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, was most recently Brunei’s ambassador to both the European Union and Belgium. CAMEROUN: Ambasssador HENRI ESSOMBA ETOUNDI has
had only one previous ambassadorial post, but in terms of length it’s equivalent to four or five. In 1999, he was appointed Camerounian ambassador to Israel and stayed there for 17 years, 12 of them as dean of the Tel Aviv diplomatic corps. Etoundi had previously spent five years in Israel as charge d’affaires, for a total of 22 years in the same country. He says Israel was “a school for life because you meet people from so many different horizons.” An avid soccer and basketball fan, he was for years a prominent supporter of the Herzliya Basketball team.
Will he transfer his allegiance to the Wizards? It’s too early to say, he notes.
CYPRUS: When LEONIDAS PANTELIDES
got his doctorate in philosophy from the University of Kent, England, he was hoping for an academic career in his native Cyprus. But there was a problem: Cyprus did not yet have a university. So, Pantelides joined the Cypriot foreign service, “thinking in the beginning it was going to be temporary,” he recalled recently. By the time the University of Cyprus was founded in the Greek-speaking part of the Mediterranean island in 1991, Pantelides had a promising career in diplomacy. He had been successively ambassador of Cyprus to Moscow, Stockholm and Athens, and latterly director of the Middle East and North African division at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs — all the while keeping his hand in by writing articles for philosophical journals. “Philosophy teaches you to think more articulately, which is a good thing in problem-solving,” he said. For any Cyprus ambassador the overarching problem to be solved is the eternal one of reuniting the divided island, partitioned since 1974 into conflicting enclaves, respectively backed by Greece and Turkey. His main task in Washington is to enlist continued U.S. support for the current round of reunification negotiations. But it’s an outgoing administration, “We’ll see what will come in January,” he adds.
DJIBOUTI: Ambassador MOHAMED SIAD DOUALEH’s predecessor,
the late Roble Olhaye, doubled as chief of mission in Washington for 27 years, ten of them as dean of the Washington diplomatic corps, and simultaneously as Djibouti’s permanent representative to the United Nations. Siad Doualeh, who inherits the dual diplomatic role, should be familiar
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AUSTRALIA In September 2015, JOE HOCKEY resigned from the Australian government after Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull fired him from his post of treasurer, or finance minister, amid criticism of his management of the economy. His consolation prize after 17 years as a member of the Australian parliament and a succession of ministerial appointments: the Australian embassy in Washington. “Politics at the end of the day beat me,” Hockey said in an interview before leaving Australia. “If I stayed it would be overwhelmingly about getting even with people that brought me down. I love my country and my family more than I hate my enemies.” The U.S. is not among Hockey’s enemies. America and Australia, Hockey said recently in Washington, “have shared values that go back a very long way.” (Photo by Tony Powell)
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with multiple assignments. He comes to the nation’s capital after nine years in Geneva representing his country at several international organizations, including the U.N. Human Rights Council and the World Trade Organization. A little known model of stability in an otherwise volatile Horn of Africa, Djibouti is where the United States military has its sprawling African headquarters. But Siad Doualeh has arrived at an awkward moment in bi-lateral relations because the Chinese are also building a Red Sea naval base there.
EL SALVADOR: Ambassador CLAUDIA CANJURA DE CENTENO
has a degree in medicine and held official positions relating to health in El Salvador before shifting to diplomacy. Her first ambassadorial assignment was to neighboring Guatamela. El Salvador “is very, very engaged with this relationship because there is a lot of bi-lateral activity.” She was then assigned in 2012 to open the embassy in Moscow, where she served until moving to Washington in June. One of her roles, she says, is “to protect the Salvadoran community in the United States” which is around 1.5 million. She is lobbying to extend and broaden the scope of the Temporary Protection status, President Obama’s holding pattern scheme pending new immigration legislation.
GREECE: Greece’s THEOCHARIS HARIS LALACOS was political
counselor in Washington from 2000 – 2004 when he was responsible for the bi-lateral relationship with the United States and issues involving Greece’s perennially awkward relations with Turkey over the divided island of Cyprus. What makes Washington a challenging capital and a “multi-polar city,” he says, “is the concentration of so many centers of influence, the extraordinary focus of power
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and strategic thinking, the frequency of so many important events.” Lalacos also served in the embassy in Ankara (2010-2013) — a hot seat for a Greek diplomat — and then moved to more awkwardness as ambassador in Skopje, Macedonia, where Athens calls its embassy a “liaison office” to signify Greece’s objection to the Balkan nation taking the same name as the adjacent Greek province. The Amherst and Johns Hopkins University graduate who lists his relaxations as hiking along the Potomac and the C&O Canal and watching the Red Sox on television, says he hopes, “to help enhance the strategic partnership between Greece and the United States, and further explore the great potential of the Greek diaspora.”
GUATEMALA: High on Ambassador GLADYS RUIZ DE VIELMAN’s list of priorities is delivery of a strong message that Guatemala is fighting corruption, for which its past president was forced to resign in 2015. Another is to confront the problem of illegal traffic of unaccompanied Guatemalan minors to the United States, which spikes yearly. With 1.6 million Guatemalans living in the U.S., how America eventually resolves the current immigration debate is a major concern. When she was Guatemala’s envoy in the United Kingdom from 2000-2003, Ruiz was Guatemala’s first woman ambassador, but she had already made history before that as the country’s first woman foreign minister from 1994-1995.
University and of Harvard. As ambassador of Guyana he will manage a relationship that is cordial after years of tension, including a U.S. invasion in 1983 to counter what the Reagan administration saw as growing Cuban influence.
HOLY SEE: America magazine, the U.S. Jesuit publication, calls ARCHBISHOP CHRISTOPHE PIERRE,
the new papal nuncio in Washington, “one of the Holy See’s most distinguished and respected diplomats.” The nuncio has the dual role of being the Vatican’s point man in relations with the U.S. administration and with the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops. One of his most important tasks will be to spot and submit to Rome possible candidates for the appointment of new bishops in this country. French-born, he came to Pope Francis’ close attention when he planned the pontiff ’s visit to Mexico in February 2016. In his nine years in Mexico City, Archbishop Pierre is widely credited in rallying Mexico’s bishops in the constant battle against historic antiCatholicism in that country. In Washington, his long stay in Mexico will prove good background if he becomes involved in the bitter debate on immigration.
ITALY: Italian ambassadors tend to have a high profile in Washington. Their neoTudor residence,Villa GUYANA: SHEIK RIYAD Firenze, has long been a DAVID INSANALLY, dazzling center of social ambassador of the activity in the capital. Cooperative Republic of Each has shown ability in keeping the focus Guyana, is a former on Italy’s rich culture, style and innovation. official of the Ambassador ARMANDO VARRICCHIO, who Organization of American arrived in March, is built in the same mold. Returning to Washington after more than a States. He was O.A.S. decade (in 2002, he was the embassy’s first representative in Trinidad and Tobago from 2008-2016, and before that was adviser to the secretary in charge of commerce and economics) from his last post as foreign Assistant Secretary General of the O.A.S. in policy adviser to Italian Prime Minister Washington. He is a graduate of Cambridge
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CANADA Ambassador DAVID MACNAUGHTON was co-chairman of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s 2015 election campaign. He has, in fact, been an influential back-room figure in Canadian politics for decades. The Ottawa Citizen newspaper says “MacNaughton was the obvious choice (for ambassador) because of his links to Trudeau and his inner circle.” A senior Canadian politician is quoted as saying that MacNaughton will be an asset because of “his ability to get to the prime minister without going through a lot of filters.” With $1.3 trillion in bi-lateral trade, 5,525 miles of common border and close military ties, there is a lot at stake in the relationship. MacNaughton has already passed his first test. Within weeks of his arrival, he had to orchestrate Trudeau’s successful state visit to Washington.
(Photo by Tony Powell)
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Matteo Renzi, he has maintained the momentum in cultural diplomacy built by his hyper-active predecessor Claudio Bisogniero, and put more emphasis on showing off Italy’s advances in hi-tech and social communications. Because,Varricchio says, “Italy’s challenge is to show that it’s not just a country with an extraordinary past, but a country able to innovate, produce and offer opportunities.”
JORDAN: Ambassador DINA KAWAR joined the Jordanian diplomatic service at the express request of King Abdullah II, who wanted to open the area to women. When she started as the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan’s ambassador to Paris in 2001 she was her country’s first female chief of mission. Her post in the French capital lasted until 2014, when she was appointed Jordan’s permanent representative to the United Nations. She arrived in New York just time to chair the U. N. Security Council as one of the 10 nonpermanent council members. With Jordan at the receiving end of thousands of refugees from the Syrian conflict (and Iraq before that), the refugee issue is one on which she speaks with both compassion and knowledge, and she was tapped to prepare the groundwork for a United Nations session on refugees scheduled for September. LATVIA: The annual Washington marathon has just gained another runner. He is ANDRIS TEIKMANIS, 57, Latvia’s new ambassador, who says “Running is part of my life. It keeps me fit and affords a regular time for thinking.” A former mayor of Latvia’s capital, Riga, and one of the signatories of the declaration restoring the Baltic state’s independence from Soviet control, he was Latvia’s ambassador to Moscow and then state secretary of the Latvian foreign ministry. Prior to his
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Washington appointment, he was ambassador to London where, of course, he ran the London marathon.
oversight body of its main organizations. After eight years in New York, she has now moved to Washington.
LIECHTENSTEIN: Ambassador KURT JAEGER, who presented his credentials in September, wants to broaden people’s knowledge of his tiny country wedged between Switzerland and Austria. “Few are for instance familiar with the fact that Liechtenstein is one of the most industrialized countries in the world,” he said, with 40 pct of G.D.P. generated by local industry. “There are currently six Liechtenstein companies with operations in the U.S. For a country of just under 38,000 we conduct nearly a billion dollars of trade a year with the U.S. and I’m convinced there is huge potential for more” he added. Jaeger comes to Washington after six years as Liechtenstein’s ambassador to the European Union. Before that he belonged to an oversight team that ensured that nonEU countries affiliated to the European Union observed EU laws. Arriving in sweltering August “I was quickly introduced to D.C.’s official cocktail, the Rickey, a pleasant cooling introduction to local culture,” he said.
MYANMAR: Myanmar’s new ambassador, AUNG LYNN, who trained as a geologist before joining the Myanmar ministry of foreign affairs, will represent a country making a transition to democracy after nearly five decades of military rule. Two days before he presented his credentials, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, once a prisoner in her own country but since the November elections a member of the leadership and foreign minister, was welcomed at the White House by President Obama who used the occasion to announce that the U.S. was planning to lift sanctions against Myanmar (once known as Burma) that have been in place for almost 20 years.
MALTA: As the diplomatic representative of one of the smallest member states in the European Union, PIERRE CLIVE AGIUS heads a small embassy. But that won’t exempt him from the increased workload when Malta takes on LUXEMBOURG: the rotating EU presidency on Jan. 1, 2017. Hitherto, Ambassador The embassy has plans for an extensive SYLVIE LUCAS’s career cultural program and a series of outreach had focused on two key events, but at the same time, Agius says, the areas of Luxembourg’s work of furthering the bi-lateral relationship foreign ministry – the all- can’t be neglected. “The United States is a important department of very important partner in our neighborhood political affairs at the (the Mediterranean) which can become ministry, and the United Nations. In 1995, uncomfortable and challenging,” Agius adds. she was appointed deputy permanent He has been Malta’s ambassador to Paris and representative at the U.N.. In 2000, she Warsaw, but still calls Washington “the returned to Luxembourg as deputy director ultimate challenge for any diplomat” in of the department of political affairs. By 2004, which the amount of work and social activity she was head of that department until 2008, involved “makes it essential to get the when she returned to the U.N. as priorities right.” Agius’s wife Irena is a Luxembourg’s permanent representative and member of the foreign service of Slovenia. was elected president of ECOSOC, the They have two daughters.
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FIJI Ambassador NAIVAKARURUBALAVU SOLO MARA, who presented his credentials in January, has been a member of his country’s diplomatic service since 2000. He has degrees in politics and international relations from Fu Hsing Kang College in Taipei and the International University of Japan respectively. After assignments in Brussels and London, he was appointed secretary general of the foreign ministry in 2009. In 2011, he was made high commissioner in London with concurrent responsibilities in Ireland, Germany, Denmark, Israel and the Holy See.
(Photo by Tony Powell)
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MARSHALL ISLANDS: As foreign minister of this group of sprawling, low lying group of island in the south Pacific from 2001-2008, GERALD M ZACKIOS helped negotiate the compact of free association with the United States which allows the Marshallese people to live and work in America without a visa. As ambassador of the Republic of the Marshall Islands, he will doubtless want to lobby the administration to extend the agreement beyond its cut-off date of 2023. The compact is the escape route for the Marshallese, whose islands are on the front line of climate change and periodically flooded by rising sea levels. The other long standing bilateral issue is dealing with the fallout of using the islands as a nuclear testing ground, including a basic disagreement between the U.S. and the Marshallese on what constitutes adequate compensation for the health and other consequences of 67 U.S. atomic and thermonuclear weapons tests in the Marshall Islands, between 1946 and 1958, 33 of them on Bikini. MAURITANIA: Ambassador MOHAMEDOU OULD DADDAH, who presented
his credentials in June, practiced law and headed a company promoting foreign investment before entering the Mauritanian foreign service. That investment is now flowing into the once North African desert backwater, following the discovery of oil off shore in the Atlantic and huge gas reserves in the hinterland. Thanks to the latter, Ould Daddah (who was ambassador to the European Union before coming to Washington) says Mauritania is poised to become a major gas exporter.
WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE THE NEW PRESIDENT? “Look at the U.S. with the eyes of a foreigner.” — Amb. Pierre Clive Agius
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MEXICO: When CARLOS SADA SOLANA,
the Mexican consul general in Los Angeles, was appointed his country’s ambassador in Washington, the press south of the border made no secret of the fact that he was expected to reposition the image of Mexico after Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s scathing portrayal of Mexico as a land of drug runners, job poachers, and rapists. His mandate, Solana says, is “to defend the interests of Mexico and Mexicans … We need to do a more thorough job so that people understand what Mexico contributes.” Solana, who trained as an industrial engineer in Mexico, Newcastle, England and the Netherlands, is something of an anomaly. He is not a career diplomat, but in 1995 he was appointed consul general in San Antonio, Tex., and went from there to the same post in Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles, all of which made him familiar with large segments of the 34 million Hispanics of Mexican origin living in the U.S. Equally helpful were his two years in Washington as minister in charge of the embassy’s dealings with the U.S. Congress.
MOZAMBIQUE: Ambassador CARLOS DOS SANTOS started his diplomatic career at 19 in a Ministry of Foreign Affairs intern program and then availed himself of his foreign postings to further his education. He earned a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in international relations from the University of Harare, Zimbabwe, while working in his country’s embassy in Zimbabwe, and an M.B.A. from the City University of New York when he was his country’s permanent representative to the United Nations. Dos Santos has at various times been presidential foreign affairs adviser, Mozambique’s ambassador to Germany and high commissioner to the United Kingdom from 2011 until his appointment in
Washington. At the U.N. he was named secretary general to the convention to ban land mines, a familiar issue because of the millions of mines left behind in Mozambique by its 16-year civil war. Indeed, mines have a personal significance for dos Santos: his wife Isabel was a program officer at Mozambique’s national de-mining institute.
NEW ZEALAND: Another ambassador who is lobbying for ratification of the TTP (Trans-Pacific Partnership) agreement on the Hill is New Zealand’s TIM GROSER, who as the government’s minister of trade negotiated the deal on behalf of his country. Pushing TTP would be “a major focus of the first period of my time in Washington,” he said on his arrival. Washington is Groser’s first diplomatic post after years as a member of the New Zealand parliament and government minister. Before that, he was a professional actor from the age of 8 to his 20s and also played in a rock band. In his spare time he plans to learn to play the jazz guitar and learn Spanish. He is likely to have problems with Washington’s social life because he told a New Zealand interviewer, “I have a particular hatred for cocktail parties. If I never attend another cocktail party in my life I would be a very happy man.” PARAGUAY: Another in the succession of government ministers transitioning into diplomacy is Ambassador GERMAN ROJAS, lately Paraguay’s minister of finance. In a long career in finance, he distinguished himself as president of the National Development Bank by cutting the delinquency rate on the bank’s loans from 57 percent to 7 percent, thereby saving the bank from possible ruin. From 2007-2008 he was president of the Central Bank of Paraguay. As ambassador, he says, one of his objectives is to consolidate Paraguay’s position in the global economy.
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PERU: When Peru’s new ambassador CARLOS PAREJA presented his credentials in September, he handed President Obama an invitation to attend a summit in the Peruvian capital in November of the Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), a gathering of the 21 most dynamic economies of the Asia-Pacific bloc, and Obama accepted. Pareja, a seasoned diplomat who served in the Peruvian embassy in Washington from 1984-1990, has been his country’s ambassador in Spain, Switzerland and Chile, and headed the American and African/Middle East departments in the ministry of foreign affairs. One of his objectives, he said, is to establish closer ties with the Peruvian community in the United States. PORTUGAL: DOMINGOS FEZAS VITAL can claim to have
lived in every corner of the Portuguese-speaking world. He was born and raised in Angola, educated in Rio de Janeiro and served in Macao where he was adviser to the governor and helped negotiate the handover of the colony to China in 1999. But his career has a strong European Union orientation. He was at various times the deputy permanent representative of Portugal in Brussels and from 2013 his country’s permanent representative. His aim in Washington, he says, is “to bring about more bi-lateral trade, more investment, more tourism, and more contacts between our civil societies.”
WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE THE NEW PRESIDENT? “Allies need to be cherished and listened to.” — Amb. Domingos Fezas Vital
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SAUDI ARABIA: Saudi business executive ABDULLAH BIN FAISAL BIN TURKI AL SAUD is
only his country’s ninth ambassador to the U.S. since 1945 because most of his predecessors have been stayers. Over the same period, for example, there have been 20 British ambassadors, 14 Germans, and 18 from Australia. So, Ambassador Bin Faisal (AFT to his friends) who followed Adel al-Jubeir (the latter left after eight years to become Saudi foreign minister) can look forward to a lengthy stay. His background is in engineering and he was most recently active in promoting investment in Saudi Arabia. He takes the post at a time of unprecedented strain in bilateral relations in part because of the Obama administration’s nuclear deal with Iran, and also American criticism of Saudi’s bungled Yemen offensive in which Yemini civilians have borne the brunt, and the perennial complaint against spectacular Saudi failures in human rights.The new ambassador immediately went on the defensive against American suspicions of overt Saudi support of Islamic fundamentalists. Saudi effort is focused on “modernizing our society and creating a better life for our children,” he said recently. “Extremism has no place within that vision.”
SAINT KITTS & NEVIS: The first challenge is to actually find the embassy. It’s still publicly listed on various sites either as New Mexico Avenue NW, or as 3100 Massachusetts Avenue NW, but that’s the British Embassy.The first location is an old address; the second is a puzzle because the real address is in Arlington,Va., which is not posted anywhere. Since January, the ambassador has been THELMA PHILLIP-BROWNE, a medical doctor and dermatologist, a lay preacher, and a former member of the Saint Kitts national netball team. But Phillip-Browne is also a politician, a union organizer, and the founder of the People’s Labour Party, which since 2015 has been a member of the country’s ruling coalition.
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TRINIDAD & TOBAGO: Late in 2015, Brig. Gen. ANTHONY PHILLIPSSPENCER, then vice-chief
of Defense Staff of Trinidad’s armed forces, was deeply disappointed when he was passed over for promotion to lieutenant general and the post of chief of the Defense Staff, according to the local media. Shortly afterwards, however, he was named his country’s ambassador to Washington. For Phillips-Spencer this was a second Washington assignment: he served as defense attache from 2004-2010.The ramrod-straight career officer, now retired, said his role as ambassador was “to deepen bi-lateral and multilateral partnerships – and to advance the interest of Trinidad and Tobago globally.”
UNITED KINGDOM: When SIR KIM DARROCH took up his post as British ambassador to Washington the United Kingdom was a leading member of the European Union.With Brexit threatening, Darroch spent his first three months in Washington assuring Americans that the British are “stronger, safer, and better off inside the European Union.”Then came the referendum. By the time Darroch leaves, the U.K. will most likely have severed its ties with Europe, as Brexit comes into effect. Darroch now has the task of persuading the U.S. that Britain without Europe remains dependable, responsible and ever faithful to the bi-lateral “special relationship” with what he once called “our greatest and most steadfast ally.” But that’s diplomacy, and professionals like Sir Kim take it in their stride. He came to Washington after three years as security advisor to Prime Minister David Cameron handling the minefield of global crises that daily assailed 10 Downing Street.And he has forgotten more than most people ever knew about the European Union after five years as the U.K. diplomatic representative in Brussels. Besides, he tweets with such abandon that another tweeter suggested he has changed the famous definition of a diplomat to “a good man sent abroad to Tweet on behalf of his country.”
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special feature
ambassadors
‘IF THERE IS AN E.U. REFERENDUM IN FRANCE I DON’T KNOW WHAT THE RESULT WILL BE’ An interview with Ambassador Gerard Araud of France
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ver since his arrival in Washington, Gerard Araud, France’s dapper ambassador, has found himself leading public demonstrations of support following a spate of Jihadist attacks in his country. It started after the Feb. 15 targeting of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. Nine months later came the large scale Paris attack that left nearly 130 people dead. In July 2016, scores were killed when a truck driver plowed through crowds on the Nice esplanade. Even as the ambassador was being interviewed in his Reservoir Road office, authorities in Paris were holding three women with ties to ISIS on suspicion of planning what police described as “an imminent and violent” attack. Meanwhile, tourism in France dropped 7 percent this year – a whopping 30 percent in the case of U.S. visitors. >>
Photo by Tony Powell
Washington Life: Why has France become the target of such an intense Jihadist offensive? Gerard Araud: First, France has the most important Muslim community in Europe – 8 percent of our population, while in the U.K. and in Germany it’s around 5 percent. Our Muslim population is mainly of Arab origin, while in Germany most of them are Turks, and in the U.K. most are coming from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The influ-
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WL: When you say “French” you mean Muslims who have French nationality, but are of Arab descent. GA: Seventy-five percent are of Muslim descent, which in our case means Maghrebian [North African] descent, but between 20 and 25 percent are converts [to Islam]. It’s something that is not widely known or emphasized. We have a debate in France trying to understand what is happening. Some say, well it’s radical Islam, other people say it’s more radicals — people who are losers, or have nothing to lose, or who are looking for a sort of theology to give a foundation to their radicalism. I suspect that it’s both ways because most of these terrorists don’t have any religious education. Very often they have been radicalized in jail. A lot are petty criminals from gangs in the suburbs. Very rarely can we track a relationship with a radical mosque.
ence of ISIS is much stronger in the Arabic speaking population because, first, these people have access to ISIS’s Internet propaganda and also the Arabs are more sensitive to what is happening in the Middle East. That, in a sense, explains why we have had more people going to [join ISIS in] Syria. Broadly speaking, there are around 2,000 people from France involved in Syria. Right now [in the battle areas] there are some 600 French [fighters], and more than 80 French have been killed.
WL: How has this unrest affected French society? GA: It’s affecting the French society the way it’s affecting any society, including the American one. First, the people are tense and there is a debate over what is the right balance between law enforcement and freedom — the same as what happened in this country after 9/11. Unfortunately, it’s unavoidable that the balance is shifting towards law enforcement. The second effect is that attacks are coming in the political atmosphere, which are quite com-
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parable to the American situation. In France, like in the U.S. you have an anti-immigration movement, and of course, because these attacks are committed by immigrants or the grandsons of immigrants, it’s feeding the discourse of, and reinforcing, the far right, the anti-immigration movement. It’s also creating an Islamophobic movement. But again all the European countries and the Americans are facing the same challenge. We are facing the rebellion of the losers of globalization. WL: The Americans contend that they are having success in fighting Daesh on the ground. Do the French agree with this? GA: Yes. We are all taking part in the fight. We have our aircraft carrier in the Gulf, we have special forces on the ground. Actually, Daesh has been retreating, and quickly in the last weeks in Iraq.The next planned offensive is the battle for Mosul [Iraq] where obviously Daesh has decided to fight, and the city’s one million inhabitants are hostages in this fight.There is the political question of who will be in charge of Mosul once the city falls, considering the very tense political situation in Iraq between the factions, and between the Sunnis and Shiites and also the Kurds who are not that far.The French are particularly concerned about Raqqa, in Syria, because according to our intelligence the French-speaking terrorists are in Raqqa.That is where attacks in France have been planned, so we’re very keen on having Raqqa taken in the not too distant future. WL: Do you think the refugee problem in Europe is getting worse? GA: Very often I was telling my American friends that what happened in Europe was as if you had in a few weeks four million immigrants crossing the Rio Grande. It’s an incredible challenge. The Germans are being extremely generous,We have to recognize that, but it has had practical consequences. They gave shelter to a million people. You saw suddenly an upsurge of the far right. So, we all have this human problem: what to do with these people who are dying on our shores? It’s an impossible choice. Either we let them die, which is contrary to our values, or we open our gates and still more people will be
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coming. Right now, out of a population of 25 million Syrians, you have 13 million who are displaced, and out of that you have 6 million out of Syria. WL: Is there an end in sight? GA: There is no light at the end of the tunnel in this war, so a lot of them have reached a point of saying “let’s go to Europe,” which is not that far. Actually only 50 percent of the migrants are Syrians.You have people coming from Afghanistan and Eritrea, so we have immigration pressure because of our geography, and you also have immigration from Africa. In the small, South Saharan countries, the population doubles every 18 years – in countries that are desperately poor and getting poorer because of climate change. So, we have a long-term
“According to our intelligence, the Frenchspeaking ISIS terrorists are in Raqqa. That is where attacks in France have been planned.” challenge in Europe about immigration and it’s also a political challenge — in a period of low economic growth. WL: In what way does Brexit impact on France? GA: For us, Brexit was for many reasons a disaster. Britain is an essential part of the European fabric, bringing its international influence, military power and its particular genius. There was a sort of triangle, which was a sort of balance, and that was LondonParis-Berlin, and now suddenly the balance is broken. There is only Paris and Berlin, which is not a balance. Suddenly, in these populist times, the far right in the Netherlands and in France are asking for the same referendums. Our far right has said that if they win the election there will be a referendum. And to be frank, if there is a referendum in France or in
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the Netherlands, I don’t know what the result will be. Our commitment from the European Union is historically very different from the British one, much deeper, but I don’t know and in these difficult times nobody knows what the result will be. WL: The British referendum has created momentum in public opinion … GA: Exactly. And also suddenly, the European endeavor, which was a one-way street, has become a two-way street. There are other countries to the right like Poland and Hungary, which has invented illiberal democracy, quite a new concept. They say, we don’t want to get out of the European Union but we do want to repatriate a lot of power from Brussels to the national authority. So, all the European endeavor has been shattered. It also means that right now it’s nearly impossible to take a decision to move forward because everybody knows that what has happened in the U.K. could happen elsewhere, that the atmospherics are pretty nationalistic and much less pro-European. WL: Perhaps because it’s the summer Brexit itself seems to have lost some of its momentum, and the process that it was supposed to trigger has yet to start. Is this so? GA: To be frank, in a technical sense, people not just in London but also in Brussels and elsewhere, don’t know how to disengage. Britain has 53 trade agreements with a lot of countries through [its membership in] the European Union. It will have to re-negotiate all 53 and will also have to re-negotiate hundreds of technical agreements on a lot issues that have been negotiated by the EU on behalf of the U.K. The U.K. ministries have problems simply to understand what will remain after Brexit.The British simply are facing an incredible challenge. People have said it, to negotiate this agreement on a new status with the European Union they would need hundreds of experts, but they only have 20. Technically it’s going to be quite a feat. The British are telling us that maybe they will activate Article 50 in the first three months of 2017, but it could be at the end of 2017 because they are at a loss – they are at a loss!
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THE ARAB SPRING ALIVE AND WELL IN TUNISIA IF NOWHERE ELSE An interview with Amb. Faysal Gouia of Tunisia ix years after igniting the Arab Spring with its own revolution, Tunisia’s democratic aspirations remain alive despite political struggles and terrorist attacks, Tunisian Ambassador Faysal Gouia says. In August, a new coalition government took office, bringing together all the forces necessary for a combined effort to reach Tunisia’s goal of a lasting democracy. >>
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WL How is this government different from its predecessors? FG This is a national coalition government drawing together all the political parties that want to be involved, and all the main national organizations like the labor, industrial and agricultural unions. Its mandate, known as the Carthage Charter (Charte de Cartage), is the outcome of a month of discussions to identify national priorities and objectives.
WASHINGTON LIFE Why do you think the Arab Spring took hold in Tunisia, but nowhere else? FAYSAL GOUIA Tunisia had all the ingredients for its success: we had a stable economy, unlike some other countries in the region; we have all the institutions and structures of the state.We have an educated population. I would add the major role that Tunisian women are playing in politics and in civil society.
WL What are these priorities? FG First is to improve the security situation; second – and this is a new element – to fight corruption and nepotism; third, the campaign against terrorism; fourth is to give new impetus to the economy through economic reform; and fifth, improve the employment situation. The last is very important because of the large number of young Tunisians, most of them graduates, who are unemployed. Everyone needs to be involved – hence the coalition.
WL Why has progress been slow and difficult since the revolution? FG After the revolution, we didn’t find ourselves only facing the regular problems that every country in the world, including the United States, has to face — social problems, education, youth unemployment, health care, restructuring the economy and so on.We also have to confront a serious threat from terrorism, which complicated the post-revolutionary situation in Tunisia. A big part of our budget is devoted to equipping our army and security forces, instead of going to education and employment. Terrorism damaged many vital sectors, notably tourism, which is one of the main sources of our economy, and foreign investment. WL What has been the attitude of Arab countries towards Tunisia for starting this revolution? FG What happened in many other countries was a cut-and-paste of the Tunisian model, but
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we Tunisians had no intention of exporting our experience. We did not urge other countries to follow us, or encourage the people of other nations to do the same. What we did was for Tunisia by Tunisians, and there was no thought of exporting democracy. That said, many Arab populations — I’m not talking about governments, but about the people — appreciated and applauded what was going on in Tunisia because it was a revolution against totalitarian regimes, dictatorships and lack of liberty. WL Why has Tunisia become such a target of Islamic extremists, such as Daesh (ISIS) and Al-QAIDA? FG Terrorism is a reality now in our region. ISIS is in Libya, Syria, and elsewhere. The terrorists are trying to destabilize Tunisia with the intention of preventing an Arab Muslim country from becoming a democracy.
WL What’s the state of the bi-lateral relationship with the United States? FG Tunisian-American relations have never been as good, as dynamic and as close as now. The widely held view in Washington is that Tunisia has all the ingredients for a successful democratic transition. Tunisia is getting from the United States ten times more financial assistance than it did before the revolution. WL You sound as if there’s a next step … FG Now we are working towards establishing an FTA [free trade agreement] between Tunisia and the United States. The U.S. has free trade agreements with Morocco, Oman and Bahrain, so why not Tunisia? There is a lot of support for it in Congress and the administration. FTAs are not popular, I know, but Tunisia is a success story and I think America wants it to continue to be successful.
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First Person: From Refugee to Ambassador How my experience as a child refugee has affected my view of the refugee crisis today. By V lo r a Ç i ta ku, A m b a s s a d o r o f Ko s ovo
Çitaku (right) with older sister Diella (left) as children.
Çitaku wth her younger sister Flaka today.
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solidarity that was extended to us when my sisters and I crossed the border into Macedonia. I was exhausted, having carried my little sister in my arms. I saw a sea of people, Albanians from Macedonia. They were waiting for us with water, food and toys. And most importantly, with open arms and open hearts. I never thought a stranger could be so warm. There was a man there waiting to take some refugees home. He saw me and my sisters and broke into tears. He came to me and said, “My name is Mexhid. I have three children. I will not leave you in the streets. My home is yours.” Indeed, his home would become our home for the next three months. The entire village came to see us, bringing food and clothing and toys for my little sister.They were trying to make us smile. I will forever be grateful. Three months later, following the U.S.-led air campaign, Kosovo was liberated, and we all went back home and were reunited with our families. While we Kosovars were fortunate enough to be embraced and the world
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eventeen years ago, I was a refugee. Every day still, I relive the moment when my three sisters and I were separated from our parents, when Serbian military forces came to deport us from our home as part of their ethnic cleansing campaign. I will always remember my mother hugging me and shouting, “Vlora, take care of your sisters, and never forget where you come from.” I remember walking, empty handed, not knowing where we were going, with no address, without my family pictures, separated from everything I knew and loved. I had nothing but hope — hope that one day I would be back home. Atrocities of this magnitude expose not only the worst, they also display the very best humanity has to offer: solidarity, compassion and caring for one another. We Kosovars are living proof that when there is solidarity among free nations of the world; life beats death and good prevails over evil. Until the day I die, I will never forget the
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reacted quickly to end the war at that time, it breaks my heart to see what is going on in the world now. Sixty-five million people are refugees today. It’s the largest number since World War II. But we must remember they are not only numbers, they are people. It’s lives cut in half we are talking about. It’s hopes and dreams cut in half. The world should not, must not, be indifferent. It’s terrible to see the discourse around refugees today in the world.They are being treated as political issue. As someone who was once a refugee, I want you all to know how wrong that is. The case of refugees is a humanitarian issue. They are deported or forced to leave. And trust me, no one, no one wants to leave home. We all must have an open heart.While politicians need to work and find a lasting solution, the rest of us just need to be human.We should not let humanity die. Because if that goes away, then what have we become? What set of values do we want to leave to our children? What are we teaching them with our behavior?
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STONES OF DISSONANCE The reach and influence of the Russian and Chinese embassies
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mbassies are physical symbols of power. Countries convinced of their global reach tend to have big, assertive embassies, staffed by armies of diplomats. Conversely, the smaller the country, the smaller its mission. If the Russian and Chinese embassies are the largest in Washington, it’s for a reason.They are designed to carry their respective challenges to U.S. reach and influence into the heart of the American capital. When the going is good, they open their doors wide to guests of the Washington National Opera Ball – as both have done – transforming their grand reception rooms into an enchanting fairyland in the case of the Russians, and lavishing a long march of Peking duck dishes on the toney crowd in the case of the Chinese. But when – as now – there is tension, an embassy becomes in the eyes of many a dark and threatening place behind whose walls mischief is planned. Relations with China brightened this summer when President Obama and China’s President Xi Jinping committed the world’s two largest economies to the Paris climate agreement. But the relationship remains marred by disputes over computer hacking and maritime security (as China takes possession of land in the South China Sea), and by human rights issues. And in 2015, the Obama administration warned the Chinese
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against agents dispatched secretly to the U.S. to pressure expatriate Chinese – some of them facing corruption charges – to return home and face the music. This clandestine presence was in addition to the 200-plus diplomats already working in the embassy. With Russia, the whiff of a new cold war seems to grow more acrid every day.The Kremlin’s continued support of the insurgents in Ukraine, its covert encouragement of populist movements in several European Union countries, its suspected wholesale hacking, its enthusiastic backing of the Syrian regime and the collapse of the cease fire to which both sides contributed — the U.S. initially by “inadvertently” bombing 80 or more Syrian soldiers and the Russians thereafter by apparently allowing the attack on a U.N. relief column — head the long list of major sticking points in the relationship. But it’s the skirmishes on the sidelines that create a sense of déjà vu. In July, a Russian policeman attacked an American diplomat as he was entering the U.S. embassy in Moscow.The U.S retaliated by expelling two Russian diplomats from Washington – the first expulsions in 15 years. The Kremlin promptly retaliated by expelling two American diplomats from the Russian capital. The narrative from U.S. sources in Russia was pure John Le Carré: a spike in harassment of
American diplomats, break-ins of the homes of U.S. embassy staff … Experts say the number of Russian spies in Washington is numerically as high as it has been since the Cold War. So, one wonders whether C.I.A. operatives have again taken up some of their old positions in Tunlaw Road apartment houses with good electronic reach into the embassy grounds. Earlier this year, the Russian embassy made an effort to revive memories of U.S.Soviet military cooperation during the World War II by showing films of the period. One movie showed the historic link-up between U.S. and Soviet troops on the banks of the Elbe River in Germany in 1945. Since then, however, the Russian embassy website accuses the U.S. of “a freeze on activities and of “restrictive measures against Russian citizens and organizations,” the second being a reference to the ban on visas and seizure of U.S. assets of Russian officials Washington links to the death in prison of Sergei Magnitsky, a lawyer who helped a U.S. firm file corruption charges against Russian police. But in other respects the Russian embassy maintains a determined silence. As for the ambassador, Sergey Kislyak, who was never very forthcoming with the press anyway, he appears to have taken a vow of silence.
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REGIONAL DIPLOMACY IN OVERLAPPING CIRCLES
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nce a month the 28 ambassadors of the European Union serving in Washington meet for breakfast at the residence of the EU chief of mission (currently David O’Sullivan) to discuss the main issues, and to ensure that the union’s representatives are speaking with one voice. While ambassadors represent individual countries, global issues, problems and threats increasingly require close cooperation. Group consultations are a fixture in today’s global approach to diplomacy. “Regional meetings of European ambassadors form so many overlapping circles you can get lost in them,” one European ambassador joked recently. For example, the six Nordic ambassadors meet regularly to discuss common problems in their region, and to organize joint initiatives; but three of them are also members of the EU.
The three Baltic states (i.e. Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia), plus Sweden and Finland, form another caucus -- even though the Baltic states are also all members of the European Union. Latin American ambassadors take it in turn to host a monthly lunch for members of GRULA (Grupo Latinoamericano), which is actually a forum of his or her colleagues from the Latin American and Central American countries to talk over problems of common interest. But the Central Americans hold their own meetings outside this framework, often including Panama, Belize and the Dominican Republic. Geography is not the sole component of these groupings. In May 2016, the ninemember Community of Portuguese Language Countries who share a language and culture and include Brazil and East Timor, celebrated its 20th anniversary at the Portuguese embassy.
The Council of Arab Ambassadors performs the same function. The diplomatic representatives of the Gulf Corporation Council (GCC), the oil rich states of Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates also hold perioditic meetings. So does the 20-member ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Committee in Washington. There’s also the African Ambassadors’ Group, one of the largest, including representatives from the entire continent. The Muslim Women’s Association is open to the wives of Muslim diplomats.The Association’s annual bazaar is held at the Islamic Center, and it is also active in local charities involving Muslims. The ASEAN Women’s Circle organizes regular social events where diplomacy takes the form of a fashion show or an evening of traditional dances.
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PIERRE CLIVE AGIUS: MALTA “I am terribly schematic. I even wear the same brand and the same shades of colors – either dark blue or charcoal grey.
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DIRK WOUTERS BELGIUM “I have run several marathons, including the New York City Marathon – twice!” MARTIN DAHINDEN SWITZERLAND “My interest in food is so strong that I have just published a book on the Swiss contribution to culinary history called “Schweizer Küchengeheimnisse,” which hopefully will soon be available in English.
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DOMINGOS FEZAS VITAL: PORTUGAL “I’m the third Portuguese ambassador to the United States in a row to have been born in Angola.”
JOSÉ TOMÁS PÉREZ DOMINICAN REPUBLIC “I like to write. Actually, I am writing two novels.”
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WASHINGTON’S PARALLEL UNIVERSE The Organization of American States
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or most of its 60-year would have some advantages existence the Washover the Europeans, notably ington Opera Ball the common languages was traditionally held in one (Spanish and Portuguese) and or another of the capital’s a shared colonial culture. more prominent embassy For the moment the OAS residences. But in 2016, the remains the only forum availOpera Ball venue was not a able to all the counties in the residence, but an imposing region. Its record of advancbuilding of grand, marble ing and supporting demostaircases, galleries and moncratic institutions may be far umental halls built early in from stellar, but the organizathe 19th century to house tion’s affiliate, the Inter-Amerthe headquarters of Washican Commission on Human ington’s other diplomatic Rights (IACHR) together The Organization of American States at 17th Street and Constituion Ave., N.W. corps — the Organization with its court, “are considof American States. ues to regard the OAS as an instrument of U.S. ered to be the main achievement in defending The OAS is the world’s oldest international foreign policy – a view to which few people the rights of individual citizens in the Western organization: it has been meeting regularly in would subscribe. The OAS decision on Cuba Hemisphere,” wrote Diana Villiers Negroponte one form or another since 1889. Today, it con- was widely seen as a symbol of its growing in a recent Brookings Institution report. sists of 34 member states from Latin America independence from the United States. In 2015, the Obama administration caught and the Caribbean, plus the United States, As the hemisphere’s political and eco- up with changes in OAS policy towards Cuba Canada and Mexico, and — improbably — 63 nomic landscape changes and new regional by reopening diplomatic relations with Havana. permanent observers from out-of-region coun- organizations such as UNASUR, the eco- This year, the organization’s Art Museum of the tries including Yemen, Iceland and Thailand. Its nomic Union of South American Nations and Americas marked the removal of this Cold War diplomatic representatives form a parallel uni- CELAC (Community of Latin American and obsession with an exhibition of works by converse consisting of ambassadors and embassies Caribbean States) emerge — neither of which temporary Cuban artists. separate from the missions of the same countries includes the United States among its members When the museum opened in 1976 in an accredited to the United States. — the future of a Washington-based organiza- annex to the OAS its collection consisted of In its modern configuration the OAS is a tion designed to safeguard democracy in Latin 250 works by contemporary Latin American product of the Cold War, and the shadow of American countries inevitably raises curious, and Caribbean artists, most of them donated the U.S. relationship with Cuba has loomed nagging (not to say skeptical) questions, not by the artists themselves.Today, its almost 2,000 over it since 1962, when Washington barreled least among the members themselves. paintings, sculptures, installations, prints, drawthrough a suspension of Cuban membership “The OAS is navigating in a concep- ings, and photographs represent the largest colbecause — said the OAS statement — Castro’s tual, diplomatic and policy fog,” commented lection in existence of the particular genius of Marxism-Leninism was “incompatible with the Pia Riggirozzi, a Latin American specialist at Latin America. Among them are seminal early principles and objectives of the inter-Ameri- Southampton University in England. works by artists who have since become major can system.” In 2009, the OAS rebuffed the China has become a major commodity names in the art world. United States by revoking Cuba’s suspension trade partner in the hemisphere; and, despite The available space has remained unaltered from the hemispheric body. Europe’s current problems, some Latin Ameri- for lack of funds to expand it.Yet the museum Havana in turn delivered its own snub to the cans are looking at the European Union as a is the most positive aspect of the OAS and will OAS by spurning the offer to resume its mem- possible model of future economic and politi- hopefully live on as its legacy — whatever bership. Why? President Raul Castro contin- cal cohesion. It’s argued that the hemisphere happens to the rest of it.
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THE OTHER ELECTION The secret search for a successor to Ban Ki-moon at the United Nations
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hile Amerimeans that the road to the cans agonize secretary general’s office over whom leads through Washingto elect as the world’s most ton, Moscow, and the powerful leader, another other three capitals of the election contest has seized P5. Esther Coopersmith, the attention of diplomats the politically well-conacross the globe: the choice nected Washington hostess of a new United Nations and fund-raiser and a Secretary General (UNSG) former U.S. representative to succeed Ban Ki-moon at the United Nations, had whose decade in office lobbied in support of Bulends on December 31. garia’s Irina Bokova, the “It’s high time now” first woman to head the for a female secretary UNESCO, a role she has general after eight men held since 2009. A woman in the job, Ban Ki-moon as Secretary General “would says, reflecting widespread be so great for the U.N., sentiment that a gender and there’s a strong possiAntonio Guterres with U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. (U.N. photo) change at the top of the bility that it could happen,” 70-year-old organization was overdue. FollowBut the secretary general is still elected by she says. ing strong lobbying by NGOs and an inten- the 15 members of the U.N. Security Council But if a woman, the experts say, it is more sive campaign among U.N. General Assembly by secret ballot, with the five permanent likely to be a newly emerged name - Kristalina members for a more open process, five highly members, the P5, (the United States, Russia, Georgiva, another Bulgarian and current vice qualified women were put forward and the China, the United Kingdom and France) president of the European Commision. What election of a female to the U.N.’s top floor having veto power; and the single name is sent about Guterres, the consistent frontrunner? became a major issue. to the General Assembly of 193 member states “His problem is that he’s very good,” says a In April, nine announced candidates, for majority endorsement, which in the past European diplomat who knows the U.N. well, including the five women, met with members has been automatic. “and neither the Americans nor the Russians of the General Assembly to explain their vision By the end of September, the result of five would want a strong secretary general.” of the United Nations and to articulate how consecutive ballots — known almost immeThe danger, say observers, is that the selecthey would run an organization with 30 sepa- diately through tweets and anonymous leaks tion will become another battleground in rate agencies, numerous programs and 40,000 — showed that the Security Council members the current tension between Russia and the staff members. It was remarkable that these had not been swept away by the campaign for a West. If the five permanent Security Council hearings took place at all. In the past, candi- gender change.The straw ballots are designed to members couldn’t agree on one of any of the dates lobbied mainly behind closed doors. narrow the field before the final vote. The front candidates in the field “the horse trading will Collectively over three days, the candidates runner in all five ballots held over four months continue until a compromise candidate is answered more than 800 questions ranging was Antonio Guterres, a former prime minister found,” says Thomas Weiss, professor of politfrom how they would handle sexual abuse of Portugal, and until 2015 the United Nation’s ical science and U.N. specialist at the Graduate cases within the U.N.’s peacekeeping opera- high profile High Commissioner for Refugees. Center, City University of New York. But he tions to the overarching issue of gender parity, Among those trailing was Helen Clark, believes the open discussion has had a positive particularly in senior staff positions, and to the who after a nine-year stint as prime minister effect, “in raising the cost to the P5 of coming recurring question of a more balanced geo- of New Zealand now heads the U.N. develop- up with a clunker like Ban. Because there are graphical permanent representation in the ment program. people who are competent, and the exposure Security Council. Ultimately, the experts say, the veto factor is a step in the right direction.” .
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HOW TO NETWORK WASHINGTON STYLE The Evolution of International Clubs
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Kyoko Jaishankar, Bonnie Perdue, Huberta von Voss-Wittig, Sandy Cornyn and Lady Susan Westmacott at the German Ambassador’s residence for an International Club luncheon. (Photo via Germany.info)
members of all the clubs attend a dinner with their respective husbands. If the clubs are not actually secret, they are certainly secretive. Three members from three separate clubs who were approached for this article refused to discuss the clubs in any detail, citing a “no publicity”rule. It seemed unusual, therefore, when the German Embassy website reported that Huberta von Voss-Wittig, the ambassador’s journalist wife, had hosted members of International Club I, of which she is vice-president, for a lecture by a distinguished German journalist on the militant Islamic group ISIS. But current realities have forced some changes on these venerable institutions -and just possibly raised some questions about their future. Because of the increase in the number of women ambassadors accredited to Washington (and the spike in the number of women in Congress for that matter) husbands are now admitted as members of at least some
of the clubs. Some female ambassadors who are alone in the nation’s capital are also admitted as members. Regulars have also noticed a drop in attendance at club events. This is due in part to the increased workload foreign diplomats face here, but also to the fact that several ambassador’s wives have professions or occupations that they want to pursue. ”I have my responsibilities as the ambassador’s wife, plus my own job, which doesn’t leave me much time for International Clubs events,” the spouse of a European ambassador says. The other challenge is a dysfunctional Congress in which the social graces of the past have all but disappeared. Can the civility on which Marian Wood Adair’s original concept was founded be restored to the International Clubs? The eve of one of the most bizarre presidential elections in memory is perhaps not the best time to find the answer to that question.
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y 1953, I felt motivated to organize a small group where we could learn about each other on a first name basis.” So wrote Marian Wood Adair, wife of Rep. E. Ross Adair (R-Ind.), in her memoirs “Window on Washington.” The result was International Club Number One with a bipartisan membership of a dozen Congressional wives split between House and Senate, the wives of some other administration officials plus ten foreign ambassadors’ wives, including those of France and the United Kingdom. As the size of the foreign diplomatic community increased, International Club One expanded into clubs two, three and four. In 1966, Barbara Bush, the wife of Rep. George H.W. Bush (R-Tex.), became a member of International Club II which had broadened membership to also include the wives of deputy chiefs of mission. After her husband became president, Bush rejoined the same group – a switch to another club would in any case have been against club rules. “The club was started to make foreigners feel at home in our country,” she would write years later. And the wives of former foreign ambassadors generally remember their club days fondly as a method of networking unique to Washington. More recently, International Neighbors Clubs I through IV were added to the group modeled on the same combined membership of foreign diplomats’ wives and the wives of Washington officials. For example, Marie Royce, wife of House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce (R-Calif.) is a member of International Neighbors II, as is Irish Ambassador Anne Anderson. All eight clubs generally function separately, and have been known to compete for members among newly arrived ambassadors. But a surface entente is maintained, and once a year all the
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A DOUBLE LIFE Ambassadors’ wives who do their own thing
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ost week-day mor nings, Lady Vanessa Darroch, wife of British Ambassador Sir Kim Darroch, slips out of the British embassy residence and makes her way to the British International School on Wisconsin Avenue where, says school principal Ian Piper, she is “a very welcome addition to our primary teaching team.” In the school’s nursery class, she teaches 16 three-to-four year olds of various nationalities. After school, she also runs a cooking club for slightly older students. Back home, she catches up with her many obligations at one of the busiest embassies in Washington. Almost every week, Huberta von Voss-Wittig , wife of Ger man Ambassador Peter Wittig, takes the train to New York City where she becomes simply Huberta von Voss, fashion and lifestyle writer for the German paper Welt am Sonntag . In September, von Voss led the paper’s weekend magazine with her coverage of New York Fashion Week. In February, the sparkling blonde star Blake Lively – no less – hosted a lunch in Manhattan for Abeer AlOtaiba – not as the wife of the United Arab Emirates’ high profile ambassador in Washington, Yousef Al-Otaiba, but as the founder and creative director of SemSem, a mother-and-daughter fashion line she launched this year. According to British journalist (and diplomatic wife) Brigid Keenan, the United Kingdom’s foreign office used to call the wives of its envoys “trailing spouses.” If so, the term is fast becoming archaic as a growing number of diplomatic wives with professions or occupations are reluctant to put them on hold while on overseas post-
WA S H I N G T O N L I F E
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ings, and find ways to include their own work in their already busy daily lives. “I think it’s quite common now,” says Rima Al-Sabah,, wife of the ambassador of Kuwait Salem al Sabah. A leading Washington hostess, in the capital since 2001, she is also supervising the renovation of a newly-acquired house and at the same time spending time as a goodwill ambassador of the UN Refugee Agency. A number of ambassadors’ wives “continue to build their careers while seeing to their official duties. All it takes is organization, efforts, and a comfortable pair of heels,” she says. The result is a delicate balance between the duties of an ambassador’s wife and their own careers. An ambassador’s wife supervises the embassy residence staff, hosts dinners, receptions and other social events, acts as hostess to visiting officials, accompanies her husband to official functions and on occasional trips out of Washington. In other words, it’s already a full time job; but as Nobuko Sasae, wife of the Japanese ambassador and a professional Japanese-English interpreter for nearly 40 years puts it, “Sometimes, pursuing two goals can be physically tough, but I’m not a perfectionist and I enjoy living in two different worlds. Interpreting is such an important part of my life and myself that it would be hard for me to give it up. I also think that I need to come back to my own world from time to time.” Leading a double life doesn’t seem to daunt Huberta Wittig either. “Personally, I wouldn’t want to lead my life in a different way,” she says. “I am grateful to be in a meaningful partnership, to continue my own career and to be at our kids’ side. It’s everything I want minus time for yoga.” The Wittigs’ four children,
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including one at college and another at high school,”keep us grounded,” she says. “We do the same day-to-day stuff that all parents do.” An efficient staff is a prerequisite to making such multi-tasking possible, but the job – the official one – finds all sorts of ways of making demands. For example, Agnes O’Hare, architect wife of European Union head of mission David O’Sullivan, is supervising renovation of the EU residence, and at the same time dealing with clients in faraway Brussels on the computer, FaceTime and the phone. “It works well once I remember the time difference,” she said in a recent interview. Adds Nabuko Sasae. “These days, I give priority to the embassy’s activities, but when there’s an interpreting assignment that I really want to take to advance my career I ask the embassy to block off my schedule so that I’ll be available to work,” Nabuko Sasae says. And in an act of professional self-restraint, Huberta Wittig, who is also a political reporter, steers clear of politics to avoid offending the host country. “There is no shortage of politics at 1800 Foxhall Road NW (the German embassy residence),” she says, but she doesn’t write about it. “It’s just my personal decision,” she says. “I don’t want our (American) hosts to feel that I will ever disclose any intimate or sensitive facts.” Still, covering other fields “has given me exposure to a while range of topics and fascinating people from other walks of life.” Rima al-Sabah says of her UN work that “it is my top priority. I spend as much time as possible on putting forth the goals of UNHCR. My work involves raising public, government, and media awareness for the refugee crisis, and raising much needed funds to provide education for these refugees. I’ve learned a lot about how to help charitable organizations over the
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