Outgoing secretary-general of the International Seabed Authority Satya Nandan (right), shares a moment with the new Secretary-General, Nii Allotey Odunton, at the farewell reception for the outgoing secretary-general at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel on Wednesday, January 14. - photos by Colin Hamilton/freelance photographer
Back in the day of heightened political consciousness and geopolitical posturing, there was hardly any Jamaican who had not heard of the International Seabed Authority (ISA) and its significance in charting a new economic order. It played a regulatory role in arbitration and dispensing justice for signatory members states, as it related to the International Law of the Sea Convention and treaties.
The late Prime Minister Michael Manley lobbied for the headquarters of the ISA to be located here in Jamaica. Today, the ISA is located in the nation's capital and there is much work being done to bring to fruition its potential to be the pre-eminent body dealing with matters related to the laws of the seas, instead of the ad-hoc approach by some states in furtherance of their own national or political agendas.
Spearheading the effort to bring this to fruition over the last 12 or so years has been Ambassador Satya Nandan, Head of Delegation of the ISA, a Fijian native who has served with distinction in a number of capacities across the globe before officially heading into retirement!
International globetrotters
Well my dears, Ambassador Satya Nandan and his wife Zarine Nandan, lived the life of the international globetrotters, with him having served as Fiji's Ambassador to the European Union, Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. He has also served as his country's secretary of Foreign Affairs; United Nations (UN), representative and under-secretary general and as special representative of the secretary-general for the Law of the Sea, before his election to the post of ISA head in 1996, from which he now retires.
He is lauded throughout the international community for his tireless efforts in spearheading the process of facilitating universal participation in the Convention.
The charming but unassuming Ambassador Nandan and his wife were always a quiet but fab couple on the social and diplomatic scenes. They were excellent hosts at dinner parties and soirées at their official penthouse residence, in the upscale Embassy Apartment Complex.
On Wednesday last week, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr Kenneth Baugh and wife Vilma hosted a farewell reception at the swanky Talk-of-The-Town restaurant, The Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston, to say goodbye to them and a charmer it proved to be!
Dears, we are talking quite the do here, as senior government ministers, diplomats, heads of missions and other dignitaries were out in force, not only to bid farewell, but to break bread and share in the occasion.
It was a bittersweet occasion that saw Mrs Nandan delicately mopping up tears as she greeted and hugged friends and associates she was now leaving behind after 12 years of making Jamaica her home. During that time, they, too, had said many a goodbye to many a friend from the diplomatic corps.
Her husband, in responding to a tribute from Dr Baugh, used the occasion to provide an account of his stewardship of the august organisation.
Fabulous feast
With flowing cocktails and loads of laughter, and a fabulous feast prepared especially for the occasion, y'all know we are talking a simply happening number here. Friends reminisced, colleagues shared anecdotes and others simply basked in the moment.
Out sharing in felicitations and adieus, were: Nandan's successor, Secretary-General Nii Allotey Odunton; Finance Minister, Audley Shaw and his companion, Susan Duhaney; Transport Minister, Mike Henry and his wife, Dawn; Cabinet Secretary, Ambassador Douglas Saunders; Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister, Senator Dr Ronald Robinson; Permanent Secretary in the Foreign Affairs Ministry, Ambassador Gail Mathurin; head of protocol, Ricardo Alicock.
We saw: former ambassador to China, Wayne McCook; Rear Admiral (Ret) Peter Brady; Dr Arthur and Mrs Geraldine Geddes; Dean of the Diplomatic Corps, Ambassador Gisela Garcia Rivera of Cuba; head of the EU delegation, Ambassador Marco Mazzocchi-Alemanni; Ambassador Jinghua Chen of China; Ambassador Viktor Zotin of Russia; British High Commissioner, Jeremy Creswell; Ambassador Jesús Silva of Spain; Ambassador Leonora Rueda of Mexico; Ambassador Mario Piño of Argentina; Filomena Navarro, Ambassador for the Dominican Republic; High Commissioner of Trinidad and Tobago, Yvonne Gittens-Josephs; Canadian High Commissioner, Denis Kingsley; High Commissioner Moheinder Grover of India; Her Grace, Ambassador Dr Nafissayou Diagne of Senegal; Ambassador Marc-Olivier Genrey of France; Ambassador Frederic Meurice, of Belgium; Jaicheon Jeon, Charge d'Affaires, Embassy of the Republic of Korea and many more.
British High Commissioner Jeremy Cresswell listens intently to Cuban Ambassador Gisela Garcia at the farewell reception
Mrs Vilma Baugh (right), chats with Dorothea Smith and Rajiv Bakshi at the farewell reception.
Ambassador for the Dominican Republic Filomena Navarro (right), makes a point to Cuban Ambassador Gisela Garcia.