Lögberg-Heimskringla - 07.11.1980, Blaðsíða 6
6-WINNIPEG, FÖSTUDAGUR 7, NÓVEMBER 1980
Dr. Paul Buteux:
Diplomacy on a shoestring
In 1945, at the founding conference of the United Nations in San Francisco,
there were 50 countries represented. The following year, when Iceland became a
member, the membership increased to 54. Now, 152 countries are represented in
the Organization. This nearly threefold increase in membership underscores the
enormous diplomatic demands made by the expansion of the international
system in the last thirty five years. In order to meet these demands, Iceland
maintains overseas, nine embassies, one consulate-general and one permanent
mission to international organizations in Geneva. Forty foreign service officers
are available to staff these missions and serve in the foreign ministry in
Reykjavík. By way of contrast, Canada maintains over 100 posts, missions and
offices abroad, and has a foreign service establishment numbering well over
1,000 persons. If a medium sized power like Canada finds it necessary to make
such an extensive diplomatic effort, then the question arises as to how Iceland
manages to serve its foreign policy interests with so small a diplomatic service.
Limited resources and broad
foreign policy interests
Of course, the brief answer must be
that with a population of 220,000 peo-
ple, Iceland has no choice but to do the
best it can with the inevitably limited
resources available. However, by the
exercise of ingenuity, and by a fairly
ruthless definition of what external in-
terests will be pursued, Iceland does
manage to conduct a diplomacy on a
scale appropriate to its foreign policy
interests.
The content of these interests can be
described under three broad headings;
commercial, political and cultural, and
the pattern of diplomatic representa-
tion reflects where these interests are
to be found. As might be expected, the
most intense and greatest range of con-
tacts are with other Nordic countries.
These cover all three aspects of Ice-
land's external interests, and Iceland
maintains embassies in Copenhagen,
Stockholm and Oslo. Until 1940, Den-
mark was responsible for the conduct
of Iceland's external relations, and as a
result of these historic links, the
diplomatic relationship with Copen-
hagen remains of particular impor-
tance. Nonetheless, the Nordic connec-
tion as a whole is of great significance,
and for many purposes the Nordic
countries form a sort of diplomatic
cooperative.
The Nordic Coluncil and The
Honorary Consular Corps
Iceland is a member of the Nordic
Council, and through close coopera-
tion with her larger partners is able to
gain access to a broader view than her
own diplomatic resources would
allow. Members of Nordic embassies
meet regularly in the capitals to which
they are accredited in order to discuss
matters of common concern and the
wider diplomatic contacts of the other
Nordic countries facilitate the conduct
of business in countries in which Ice-
land has no direct diplomatic represen-
tation. Otherwise, Iceland must rely
on an extensive network of honorary
consuls who are to be found from
Melbourne to Caracas, and from Win-
nipeg to Tokyo. In all, Iceland has ap-
pointed about 140 of them, and with-
out their assistance would be unable to
provide routine consular services in
many parts of the world. Icelanders
are an itinerant people, and although
consular work consists of more than
dealing with the problems of citizens
abroad, it is the case that the "dis-
tressed" Icelander will be able to find
succour in some urilikely places.
The range of diplomatic responsi-
bilities
Whereas the work of Iceland's em-
bassies in Scandanavia is responsive to
the shared cultural background of the
Nordic countries, the work of Iceland's
other missions is largely commercial
and political. These are to be found in
Washington and Moscow, Paris and
Bonn, Geneva, Brussels and London.
In adddition, there is a professionally
staffed consulate-general in New York.
Despite the many changes in the inter-
national system since Iceland first
established her diplomatic service in
the 1940's, the basic shape of Iceland's
overseas representation has changed
little. In this, it reflects the fact that
Icelanders' have established a fairly
stable pattern of commercial and poli-
tical interests, although the volume of
Systkinin hittast eftir 54 ár
"Betra er seint en aldrei", sagði
Ragnar Sigurdson er hann leit við á
skrifstofu L.H. fyrir skömmu. Tilefni
þessara orða var að í sumar hitti hann
systur sína frá íslandi, Huldu Óskars-
dóttur og höfðu þau þá ekki sést í 54 ár.
Ragnar fluttist vestur til Kanada aðeins
þriggja ára gamall, þá var Hulda 1 1/2
árs, svo ekkert muna þau frá þeim
dögum. Urðu miklir fagnaðarfundir
með þeim systkinum. Hulda kom
hingað til Manitoba ásamt manni
sínum Baldri Finnssyni og dvöldu þau
á heimili Ragnars og konu hans Kather-
ine hér í Winnipeg í þrjár vikur. Þau
ferðuðust fnikið um nærliggjandi
byggðir og heimsóttu m.a. Gimli á ís-
lendingadeginum.
Ragnar sagði að sig langaði mikið til
að heimsækja ísland og hefðu þau hjón
jafnvel í huga að ferðast þangað næsta
sumar. Þó Ragnar sé fæddur á íslandi
og tali íslensku lítur hann fyrst og
fremst á sig sem Kanadamann. Hann
Systkinin Ragnar Sigurdson og
Hulda Óskarsdóttir á heimili
Ragnars i Winnipeg
barðist í síðari heimstyrjöldinni fyrir
Kanada, þá aðeins 18 ára. "Kanada er
gott land", segir hann. "Hér hefur mér
og mínu fólki liðið vel." En hann tekur
einnig fram að hann sé ákaflega stoltur
af Islandi og íslendingum, menningu
þeirra og dugnaði.
The Icelandic Embassy in Washing-
ton, D.C.
work has grown as Iceland’s involve-
ment with the international communi-
ty has increased. The embassies in
Washington and Brussels are probably
the most important to Iceland in terms
of the range of political matters that
they deal with, whilé the missions
elsewhere place relatively greater em-
phasis on Iceland’s commercial in-
terests.
All Icelandic ambassadors are ac-
credited to a number of different
governments and institutions, though
it is unlikely, for example, that the am-
bassador to Sweden, who is also ac-
credited to Albania, has very much to
do with Tirana. Still, these multiple
responsibilities require Iceland's diplo-
matic personnel to be generalists. The
one exception to this is in matters deal-
ing with fish and the law of the sea.
Siuce fish products account for 75 per-
cent of Iceland's exports, every Ice-
landic diplomat is well versed in the
problems and intricacies of the trade.
Moreover, given the importance of fish
to the Icelandic economy, Iceland is
extremely sensitive to any develop-
ments in maritime law that might af-
fect her access to offshore resources.
Thus Iceland has devoted a great deal
of attention to the lengthy inter-
national negotiations on the law of the
sea, and has developed considerable
expertise in this area.
By and large, though, Icelandic dip-
lomats are exposed to a wide range of
concerns, anþ can operate only by
selecting as narrow range as possible of
matters to which they give their atten-
tion, and by avoiding any deep in-
volvement with anything that does not
seem to be of direct interest to Iceland.
There are simply not the staff avail-
able, either in the missions or in Reyk-
javík, to undertake any extensive re-
porting function, and it is necessary for
Iceland's diplomats abroad to establish
clear priorities in what they will refer
to their foreign ministry.
Iceland's presence at NATO head-
quarters
At present, the largest of Iceland's
missions is in Brussels. It is staffed by
an ambassador, two other officers and
two secretaries. It represents Iceland
not only in Belgium, but in NATO, the
Éuropean Community and in Luxem-
burg as well. The embassy is physical-
ly located in NATO headquarters, and
since this is a secure area it can create
difficultíes for anyone wanting to visit
the embassy on a casual basis. The
problem is solved by the ubiquitous
honorary consul, and two have been
appointed in Brussels who, through a
downtown office, can handle a lot of
the routine consular work of the em-
bassy. Apart from handling the specific
interests that concern Iceland with res-
pect to the organizations and govern-
ments to which it is accredited, the em-
baSsy functions as a "listening post",
reporting on what might be of general
concern to Icelandic foreign policy.
Naturally, with this range of respon-
sibilities, the staff are spread pretty
thin, and the way in which NATO
functions adds to the strain. Since the
NATO Council can meet only when all
the member states are represented,
Iceland must maintain a properly ac-
credited diplomat in Brussels at all
times. The embassy cannot close the
store for the holidays! Again, modern
international organizations, like any
bureaucratic structure, spawn a host of
committees. NATO is no exception,
and it is necessary for the Icelandic
delegation to be selective in choosing
what committees on which to be repre-
sented. Nevertheless, the delegation
receives an enormous quantity of mat-
erial which has to be reviewed for its
relevance to Icelandic interests.
Membership in an international or-
ganization like NATO involves the
practice of multilateral diplomacy, and
this can be both a help and hindrance
to a small country such as Iceland. On
the one hand, Iceland can benefit from
the common positions worked out
through the organization and can take
advantage of staff work that is beyond
her own resources. For example, in
November there will take place in
Madrid a further conference on sec-
urity and cooperation in Europe. This
is a follow-up to the Helsinki con-
ference of 1975, and Iceland was one
of the thirty-five signatories, from both
East and West, to the Final Act of that
conference. Clearly, Iceland has a
significant interest in East-West
detente, and her ability to participate
effectively in Madrid, and her capacity
to monitor what is going on, are greatly
assisted by her membership in NATO.
A cumbersome machinery
On the other hand, multilateralism
can create difficulties. Iceland
frequently finds this in her dealings
with the European Community. Many
matters which Iceland would wish to
take up bilaterally with member states
have to be dealt with through the often
cumbersome machinery of the Com-
mission of the European Community
in Brussels. Currently, Iceland has pro-
blems with Denmark and Greenland
over the impact on Iceland's access to
the capelin fishery of the extension of
fishing limits to 200 miles. Rather than
dealing directly with Copenhagen on
this matter, because it falls within the
jurisdiction of the European Com-
munity, Iceland has to pursue her in-
terests through the Commission. The
result is to make the negotiations more
complicated and drawn out than other-
wise might be the case.
In dealing with the European Com-
munity, Iceland maintains contact
with an officer of the External Rela-
tions Division of the Commission who
is appointed to look after relations with
those Nordic countries who are not
members of the Community. In order
to function effectively, it is necessary
for Icelandic diplomats to establish
contacts with those sections of the host
continued on page 7
\