DIPLOMACY IN TRANSITION
Jerusalem, 31 March 1995
THE DIPLOMAT OF THE YEAR 2000
Mr. Claude Morel, Seychelles
I have been in the business of diplomacy for the last 15 years. I come
from a very small archipelagic state of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean,
east of Kenya, north of Madagasscar. Seychelles attained its independence
in 1976, which is very recent. We have a very small land-mass, a
population of under 100,000 people. Yet we have a very large territory, we
have a very large economy-exclusive zone, an EZ of 1.4 million square
kilometres.
The two pillars of our economy are tourism and fisheries. Seychelles
belongs to the United Nations, the OU, NAM, to the Commonwealth, to "la
Francophonie" and to the Indian Ocean Commission.
When I decided to participate in this conference, I contacted the
Ambassador of Israel in Nairobi, and told him I wanted to make a few
remarks on the challenges and constraints of a small island, developing
state. And he returned a few days later advising me to come in at this
particular moment when we are talking about diplomacy in the year 2000.
At this late hour, ladies and gentlemen, I beg your indulgence if I may
sound a little out of tune. But I would like, in my humble contribution,
to the deliberations, talk about diplomacy in a different perspective,
that of a small island state, with the attention on the case of my country
Seychelles.
As you know there are a large number of small island states that make up
the United Nations system, the majority of them come from the Caribbean,
the Pacific and also from the Africa region, which we belong to. I am
pleased to note the presence of a colleague from Fiji, who is also a club
member, as I put it.
To begin with, Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen, let us just simply
enumerate a few characteristics of small island states. One is the
vulnerability of small island states. A lot of our islands depend on
tourism, and as you know tourism is a very fragile economy. I will give
you one example of the Seychelles during the Gulf War. In a matter of
weeks, our tourism visitor arrival dropped by 50%. In a matter of days,
from Italy, from where 25% of our visitors come, the visit arrival dropped
to 0% in a matter of days. Just to prove the fragility of tourism-based
economies of small island states.
Of course small islands are geographically isolated as you all know find
themselves hostage to world market prices and the whims of the financial
system. Small islands face not only the problems of policing their seas
around the shores, but also the EZ as I said earlier on, which are
generally thousands of kilometres. But the island states have other
problems. They have to confront the problems of dealing with unauthorized
fishing by foreign vessels. I am thinking of the use of the seas by drug
runners, and more importantly, in our view, the possible pollution by oil
tankers.
Mr. Chairman, dear colleagues, you realize that small island states do not
have economic or military power. Therefore, the foreign policy of a small
island state, if skillfully pursued, becomes our first line of defence.
Let us take the case of my country. We have studied the evolution in
international relations in the past four years, as a landmark. We are
aware that we are living in a very competitive world. We realize that our
foreign policy goals should be aimed at deriving maximum benefit from our
interaction with the international community. The thrust of our diplomatic
activity should be geared towards attaining the prosperity and wellbeing
of our small nation. But how do we put all this into practice?
Let me attempt briefly to portrait the diplomat of the year 2000 from a
small island state, and how he or she can aim at conducting the business
of diplomacy.
One prerequisite in our view is political stability and credibility of
government. I will not delve into that, we are all aware of that point.
The next one, in my view, is to have political concensus on foreign policy
at national level. In the case of Seychelles, my ministry, and I was
personally involved in preparing a revised foreign policy paper, which has
been submitted to Cabinet, it has also been submitted to the National
Assembly, and also it was presented to the press. In other words, the
whole community is aware of what the foreign policy thrust of the country
is, and there is a consensus, and everybody accepts what should be the
role of Seychelles in the international fora.
The next one is, it's important in our view to have national plans and
priorities. Some may argue, saying that it is easier to plan and manage in
a small country. True. Nonetheless, we should be forward-looking. One
should be organized. We in Seychelles, for example in the past three
years, have worked on an investment program, which will bring us beyond
the year 2000, a program that tackles and deals with those projects that
should be implemented at the national level for the next 15 years.
We have, with the help of important institutions like the World Bank and
UNDP, also worked on a human resources development plan. Being small, we
know that we have to link the human resources development with the
economic and social and cultural development of the country.
More importantly again, the third aspect of forward-looking and planning,
we realize that the environment is our only asset, our only resource, and
we, again, with the help, as I said of certain institutions like the World
Bank and UNDP, have prepared what we call an environment management plan
of Seychelles. In a nutshell, these are the three main areas of national
development, that we need to bring ourselves forward. We need, of course,
interaction with the international community. We cannot do it on our own.
But we have laid the foundation of our national priorities through our
diplomatic activities.
Now what is the effect of having all these plans? And here I think of our
African friends, who are going through some very difficult moments. It is
difficult, I know, with the contacts I've had in the past with a number of
colleagues, that it is difficult to plan even for the next year or so. It
is difficult to plan on what are the human resources and development for
the next three years or so. But it is important, at least, to think about
it. It is important to talk to the financial institutions, to our partners
of the developing countries. It is important that they realize that we are
serious, that we mean business, that we can think and plan ahead.
Mr. Chairman, let me now touch on the requirement needed to achieve all
this. One, I think, it is important to have an effective coordination of
diplomacy. And this is where the Ministry of Foreign Affairs plays an
important role. Of course, like all ministries of foreign affairs, those
in small states have the prime responsibility of managing diplomatic
activity. We may in the process be stepping on the toes of other
ministries. This happens, because maybe as we were saying yesterday, it
does happen that other ministries, parliament, also conducts foreign
policy at its own level. But what is important, in our view, is that the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs should be the focal point to monitor and
follow up all diplomatic activities. I'm thinking of visits of heads of
state, ministers, for example. There are a lot of discussions that are
held, but it is important to have a mechanism of follow up, because we
tend to forget, projects may not move, decisions may not be implemented.
And this is what is the prime rule of a Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a
small state, is to be a trouble-shooter. We have to assure appropriate
follow-up and monitoring.
Number two, there should be a very good relationship between headquarters
and diplomatic missions that we have. You will be surprised to hear that
Seychelles has only four resident diplomatic missions abroad. We have
senior professionals in the ministry, in the division I head, the number
is only 12, if you consider directors and first and second secretaries. So
it is important to have team work; it is important for all of us to be
'jacks of all trades'. We cannot afford to be specialists, and as our
colleague from Senegal said just now, we have to be journalists with a
very wide knowledge. Our ambassadors, for example, in the missions are
alone. It is a one person show. The ambassador has an assistance-cum-
secretary, and has a driver who acts as a butler, as a receptionist, you
name it. It's a one-man show that the ambassador is the economic, tourism,
the press attaches. Nonetheless, what we have at heart is the promotion
and defense of national interests. So the ambassadors, and even at home,
have to be conversant with the promotion of investments, promotion of
tourism. We should be able to talk about selling fresh and frozen fish.
Mr. Chairman, because of the lack of human resources, we have reverted to
a system of honorary consulates. We make use of honorary consuls to help
us in our diplomatic activity. We have 45 of them. These are prominent
personalities who are well-established in the business and community,
especially, who have their own means and are not salaried. They receive no
salary from the Government of Seychelles. We are very careful in the
selection. Some of them, as you know in many other countries, use their
position to influence their own businesses and so forth. But we have a
strict selection criteria, and we count on them to help us in the
promotion of our interest wherever they are, for example in the Indian
Ocean island states, closer to us in the African states, especially
Southern African states, and Europe and also Southeast Asia.
Next point, what is important is to establish priorities in the conduct of
bilateral and multilateral diplomacy. I said earlier on that we are
dependant on tourism and fishing. Tourism accounts for most of the small
island states of the Caribbean and the Pacific, accounts for about half of
their GNP. It is important for us to work hand-in-hand with ministries of
tourism. In our case, in all four embassies abroad there is a tourism
office on the same premises. So it is important for the ambassador to have
"un droit de regard" on the activities of tourism, because we know tourism
and fishing are our bread and butter.
The next role of a diplomat in a small island state, I think, is that we
should act as a facilitator between states and the business communities.
We should be there to look for business opportunities. In fact we should
be conversant with the country's policies on industrial development and
investment policies. We should know the programs on technical cooperation
with developing countries and so on and so forth.
Turning to multilateral diplomacy. We recognize the importance of the
environment in our lives. We cannot afford to be specialists in the NPT,
for example, in the chemical weapons convention. On the contrary, I think
we ought to know the intricacies of the conventions such as the Nairobi
convention, and the marine and coastal environment. We have to be
conversant with the convention of biological diversity because these
constitute 43% of our national territority.