FORMER Jamaican diplomat, Don Mills has joined those who have spoken out against any retrenchment in the island’s foreign service, suggesting that the existence of a competent diplomatic service was an important route for small countries like Jamaica to influence international affairs.

He was worried, therefore, when he heard calls for the downsizing of the foreign service.

Mills was one of the speakers on Thursday at the opening of an exhibition marking the 40th anniversary of the opening of Jamaica’s foreign ministry, and apparently raised the issue in the context of recent support for a vibrant foreign service by shadow foreign minister Ossie Harding.

Three years ago, a task force headed by Grace, Kennedy & Company CEO, Douglas Orane, had recommended that Jamaica close six of its foreign missions as part of an effort to save money.

The foreign service establishment at the time quietly balked at the suggestion. One mission, the embassy in Moscow, was eventually closed.

But in the Senate a fortnight ago, Harding noted that where seven years ago the foreign ministry was allocated just under one per cent of Jamaica’s national budget, the allocation had fallen to less than one-half per cent. He wondered whether the Orane suggestion was being implemented through the backdoor, to the detriment of Jamaica.

Mills, who was Jamaica’s permanent representative to the United Nations in the 1970s and has worked as a consultant for several UN agencies since then, joined the debate in Thursday’s speech, without specifically mentioning the Orane Report or Harding’s recent comments.

He argued that in the United Nations system not even a superpower can rely only on its power, for there were arrangements that placed limits on influence.

And, for small countries like Jamaica, participating in debate and chairing committees allow opportunities to influence the world agenda.

“So, when I hear the suggestions about limiting the size of the foreign service, I worry about that,” said Mills. “I hope that we are very careful about doing that because there is a necessity in the world — and it grows over the years — to have a competent foreign service; one that, even in limited circumstances, can be the best for the country and also make a contribution to the wider interest of the world.”

Mills said that his experience tells that the multilateral system, even in difficult circumstances, makes the world more tolerable.

He added: “It is timely to ask whether severing ties with our colonial status really made a difference to our progress. Without the United Nations systems and the opportunity of having a foreign service and a Ministry of Foreign Affairs it would count for less than nothing.

“It may not count for a great deal in the world now, but in my experience, the existence of the multilateral system, for one thing, makes life tolerable and possible … which it would not be without.”

Mills also complained that the Jamaican media did not sufficiently cover international affairs. “It is something I urge because some of the issues are crucial to the interests of Jamaica,” he said.