SOUTH FLORIDA – Jamaica’s Consul General Oliver Mair will serve as the Dean of the Caribbean Consular Corp in South Florida. Making the announcement recently, Ambassador Gilbert Boustany, Consul General of Antigua and Barbuda, and Dean of the Consular Corp of Miami, proudly recognized CG Mair as the first Dean of the Caribbean Consular in over seven years. He added that Mair’s inspirational, engaging and dynamic leadership has been well recognized across the Diaspora community.
Since his appointment at the Consulate General of Jamaica, Miami in October 2018, Mr. Mair has fully embraced the community. This includes engaging in a record-breaking number of events. In an effort to strengthen the Diaspora connection of Jamaican nationals across the 13 Southern States under his jurisdiction. Along with Florida, these include Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, North and South Carolinas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas.
Awards and Recognition
Mr. Mair has received several awards for his outstanding and creative leadership qualities by local and regional bodies. This includes the U.S. Senate Congressional Award for the Diaspora and Global Community. Mair was also acknowledged Man of the Year-2020. An award he shared jointly with Barbados Prime Minister, Mia Mottley, Woman of the Year-2020, by the Caribbean National Weekly (CN Weekly).
Community Engagement
Along with his Caribbean counterparts, his emphasis on community engagement is evident in the various outreach activities in which the Caribbean Consular Corp were able to provide assistance in areas affected by natural disasters including hurricanes in Belize, Bahamas, and volcano in St. Vincent. This has also been extended to Caribbean nationals affected in areas in the Southern US region.
The Consular Corp was also instrumental in leadership as they rose to providing assistance to their Caribbean nationals at home and locally, who were affected during the COVID pandemic. During the pandemic the Corp was able to acquire large shipments of personal protective equipment (PPE) for the region. These included container loads of masks/shields and sanitizers for personal and industrial use.
Regarding the Jamaican Diaspora, Consul General Mair continues to engage nationals in projects to benefit the Jamaican economy. As well as the local communities in the Southern USA. These include outreach activities including the Jamaica Stock Market, Tourism, Agriculture and Real Estate which aims to highlight investment opportunities in Jamaica and in the Diaspora.
Through various fundraising initiatives, the Consulate continues to work closely with charitable organizations. Especially, the alumni associations generating much needed resources to Jamaica. Specifically, in the areas of Health, Education and Culture.
Caribbean Consular Corp
The Jamaican Consulate General is one of several Florida based Consulates under which the fraternity of the Caribbean Consular Corp was established. The Florida Consular Corp is the third largest diplomatic Corp in the USA with over 80 countries. The South Florida based Caribbean group consists of several countries including Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago.
Working In Unity
Stepping into his new role, Mr. Mair has stated that he looks forward to serving with his counterparts. Especially in areas of mutual interest to benefit the Caribbean region and the United States. Some of these include disaster awareness and preparedness, improving trade and commerce, tourism, transportation, health and education. “We look forward to producing great results for the individual countries working together in unity” he said. He reiterated that with greater numbers and stronger unity, far more can be achieved.
