Foreign Service officers, senior civil servants define priorities for St. Kitts and Nevis

Basseterre, St. Kitts (CUOPM) – A three-day seminar designed to give Foreign Service Officers and frontline senior civil servants a clear understanding of challenges of small developing states and defining their role in representing the priorities of small developing states will begin here on Wednesday.

It takes place at the St. Kitts Marriott Resort under the theme: “Pragmatic Diplomacy & Economic Resilience.”

Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Hon. Patrice Nisbett will deliver the feature on the topic: “Building a more Modern St. Kitts and Nevis” during the opening ceremony, which is chaired by Her Excellency Ambassador Mrs. Astona Browne.

A ministry official noted that topics for the seminar have been carefully selected to reflect the areas that will assist with this process. The facilitators hail from reputable, international institutions that play a leading role in the advancement of multilateral diplomacy and development.

“There has hardly been another time in recorded human history when small states such as St. Kitts Nevis could compete successfully in the same economic, diplomatic and technological space with larger, more populous countries. Unlike the periods of the Agricultural Revolution and the Industrial Revolution, today’s Technology Evolution is allowing small countries greater access to information and knowledge as well as to opportunities to marshal new resources in innovative ways to build better economic resilience and sustainable development,” the ministry said.

The workshop also seeks to sensitize participants and to challenge on how to use pragmatic diplomacy, awareness of modern technologies and corporate cultures coupled with learning new skills-set to enhance opportunities for St. Kitts and Nevis to succeed in a rapidly changing and competitive global marketplace.

It ensures greater practical usefulness of the workshop and attention will be paid to a broad mix of theoretical analyses, diplomatic nuances, business and business practices, critical discussions and familiarisation with soft and practical skills. This will be conducted across a number of interactive exercises, through which participants are able to hone their analytical skills and responses.

Facilitators include, Dr. David H. Dunn, Professor, Department of Political Sciences, University of Birmingham, who will present on Diplomacy and Statecraft; Brian. J. Hall

Albert H. Gordon, Professor of Business Unit Head, Negotiation, Organizations and Markets (Harvard Business School), Harvard University on Negotiation and Management; Mr. Fabien Anthony, Executive Director, Global Advances Group on Technology and Competitiveness; Professor Joseph Mifsud, Director of LAD (London Academy of Diplomacy), University of Stirling, Scotland on Building Economic Resilience in Small States.

Integral Development will be led by Ms. V. Sherry Tross, Executive Secretary of SEDI, Organization of American State (OAS); International Law Creation and Small States by Dr. Ben Chigara, Professor of Law & Deputy Head of School (Operations) Brunel Law School, Brunel University; Attracting Foreign Capital by Mr. Andrew Amos, Deputy Funds Manager, M&G Debt Opportunities Fund, M&G UK; One-Stop Business Facilitation by Patrick Liotard Vogt, Entrepreneur, Co-owner Kittitian Hill Resorts and Understanding HNWI & UHNWI by Armand Arton, Entrepreneur, President and CEO, Arton Capital

Discussion on Building a Corporate Infrastructure will be led by Mr. Uday Nayak, Entrepreneur, Chairman, Veling Ltd; Mediation and Conflict Resolution by Her Excellency Aloun Ndombet-Assamba, High Commissioner of Jamaica to the Court of St. James; Pragmatic Foreign Policy, Professor David H. Dunn, Department of Political Sciences, University of Birmingham and Size, Survival and Globalization by Dr. Simon B. Jones-Hendrickson, Professor of Economics, Dean, College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences, University of the Virgin Islands (USVI).