On October 17th Governor John Bel Edwards and First Lady Edwards hosted a luncheon for the Consular Corps of Louisiana.
The Governor and First Lady were overwhelmed by the gift from the Consular Corps (a French gumbo pot) to thank them for all that they have done to welcome our Ambassadors, Presidents, Prime Ministers, Consuls-General, international businessmen, and for the many, many events at the Governor’s Mansion to which the Consular Corps has been welcomed over the past eight years.
On August 28, the Louisiana Consular Corps held a meeting at the Windsor Court Hotel, with Ukrainian Consul-General Vitalii Tarasiuk and Consul Pavlo Moiseichenko.
On Friday, July 14th, members of the Louisiana Consular Corps attended the 2023 Bastille Day party at the Residence de France. The party was very well attended and also included the Francophone and Francophile communities, all guests of French Consul-General Nathalie Beras. Members of the Consular Corps in attendance included: the Hon. William H. Hines, Vice Dean and Honorary Consul of Portugal, the Hon. David P. Schulingkamp, Executive Committee Member and Honorary Consul of Brazil, the Hon. Conny Willems, Executive Committee Member and Honorary Consul of the Netherlands (ret.), the Hon. John F. Fay, Jr., Honorary Consul of Denmark, the Hon. Gary J. Mannina, Honorary Consul of Luxembourg, and the Hon. Susan E. Harper, Consul-General of Canada in Dallas. On the occasion of Consul-General Beras’s announcement that she will leave New Orleans soon to return to the Foreign Ministry in Paris, Dean Clesi thanked Consul-General Beras on behalf of the Consular Corps for her many contributions to Louisiana, to New Orleans, and to her Consular Corps colleagues.
On 21 June 2023, French President and Mdme. Emmanuel Macron welcomed New Orleans native and multi-award winning musician and composer Jon Batiste, and world class New Orleans-based jazz legends Herlin Riley, Mitchell Player, and Mahmoud Chouki to the President’s official residence in Paris, the Elysée Palace, to celebrate the Fete de la Musique. President and Mdme. Macron also welcomed Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards and First Lady Edwards to the Elysée as part of Governor Edwards’s economic development trip to France.
On June 1, the Honorable Masahiko Mitsumoto, Deputy Consul-General of Japan in Nashville, and Miss Sumire Matsuda, Researcher/Advisor at the Consulate-General of Japan in Nashville, visited Louisiana and met with Honorary Consul of Japan Donna D. Fraiche and with Consular Corps Dean Bret Clesi after visits with the Mayor of Baton Rouge, with state Senators, and with other officials.
To conclude their visit to Louisiana, Deputy Consul-General Mitsumoto presented Honorary Consul Donna D. Fraiche her appointment for another five years as the Honorary Consul of Japan to Louisiana during a lunch at Commander’s Palace which was also attended by the President of the Japan Society in New Orleans.
On May 23, a new joint initiative was launched – the Onshore Wind Platform relationship with the Country of Denmark!
Honorary Consul of Denmark in New Orleans, John Fay participated in the signing of a ‘New initiative to foster knowledge sharing between Danish onshore wind energy companies in North America’.
We are very excited to collaborate with the country of Denmark and Danish Wind Export and look forward to facilitating future partnerships and activities within the Onshore Wind Platform.
“GNO, Inc. partnered with The Trade Council of Denmark in North America – Energy and Environment and the Danish Wind Export Association to host an offshore wind supplier exchange between local companies and the 30-company offshore wind delegation the Danish agencies brought to New Orleans in conjunction with American Clean Power Association (ACP) CLEANPOWER this week.
After conducting presentations on their respective offshore wind services, and a guest presentation from Claire Richer on the IRA, company representatives discussed opportunities for collaboration and co-investment with local partners at Gallier Hall. The event concluded with an LOI signing between the Trade Council and DWEA to develop a new program designed to support Danish energy companies with U.S. FDI.”
On May 12, there was a meeting between Irish Ambassador Geraldine Byrne Nason, Consul-General Hull, Consul James F. McKay, III & Gov. John Bel Edwards.
On May 11, Her Excellency Geraldine Byrne Nason, Irish Ambassador to the U.S., and Irish Consul-General in Texas Robert Hull visited New Orleans to dedicate Hibernia Park, the site of the 19th century New Basin Canal where thousands of Irish immigrants died digging the canal. Now filled in as the neutral ground on Pontchartrain Boulevard and marked by a large, granite Celtic cross, Ambassador Nason recalled the pivotal role of the Irish in New Orleans’s history. She was honored by the local Irish community at a spirited dinner at Antoine’s hosted by Honorary Consul of Ireland Judge James F. McKay, III.
First thing on the agenda at the LIT Conference was; The Protocol of International Business Development
Michael Hecht – President and CEO, Greater New Orleans, Inc.
To celebrate the coronation of King Charles III in London on the same day, His Britannic Majesty’s Honorary Consul in New Orleans, the Hon. Dr. E. Quinn Peeper, hosted the Coronation Cup Regatta and luncheon at the Pass Christian Yacht Club, Mississippi, on Saturday, May 6th, 2023. Approximately 150 guests attended the luncheon, including several Members of the Louisiana Consular Corps: the Hon. Patricia Denechaud, Honorary Consul of Canada (Ret.), the Hon. Philip Lorio, Honorary Consul of Austria (Ret.), the Hon. Martin Pospisil, Honorary Consul of the Czech Republic, and Mrs. Pospisil, the Hon. Walter Wolf, Honorary Consul of Latvia, the Hon. Bret Clesi, Honorary Consul-General of Albania and Dean of the Consular Corps, and Mrs. Clesi, and Honorary Consul Peeper and Mr. Michael Harold. The regatta featured vintage sailing vessels (pictured below) from throughout the U.S. At the conclusion of the regatta, Honorary Consul Peeper presented an inscribed, Sterling trophy cup to the winning Captain. The “Coronation Cup” will remain on permanent display at the Pass Christian Yacht Club. In his remarks at the luncheon, Dean Clesi reminded the guests of the very close historic ties between New Orleans and Pass Christian over the past three centuries, much of which owing to sailing.
On April 18, 2023, the Consul General of France, the Hon. Natalie Beras, hosted a reception at the Residence de France honoring the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra.
The Grammy Award-winning New Orleans Jazz Orchestra big band calls the New Orleans Jazz Market its home. It is the only stand-alone facility built specifically for Jazz in New Orleans. They performed at the Tahiti Jazz Festival last Fall, which also happens to be the place that Consul General Beras spent 10 years of her childhood.
Members of the Louisiana Consular Corps in attendance were, in addition to Consul General Beras, the Hon. Cecilia Kjellgren (Sweden), the Hon. Roland Vandenweghe (Belgium), the Hon. Susanne Veters Cooper (Germany), the Hon. Nancy Marinovic (Mali), the Hon. Walter Wolf (Latvia), and the Hon. Thomas Westfeldt (Sweden – Ret.)
At the Louisiana Consular Corps’s April 14, 2023 meeting, we welcomed four official guests: Slovakian Ambassador to Washington, DC, H.E. Radovan Javorcik, Slovakian Consul in the Washington, DC Embassy, the Hon. Viktor Valla, Executive Director of the World Trade Center of New Orleans, Mr. Harrison Crabtree, and Special Agent Aileen Hart of the U.S. Department of State Office of Diplomatic Security. The Slovakian delegation was hosted in Louisiana by the Slovakian Honorary Consul in Louisiana, the Hon. Dr. Zoltan Gombos. Twenty-six other Members of the Consular Corps attended the meeting culminating in a presentation and Q&A on current world affairs by Ambassador Javorcik.
On Tuesday, April 4, 2023, Louisiana Consular Corps Members Estefania Cheng (Panama), Bret Clesi (Albania), Donna Fraiche (Japan), Cesar Lurati (Uruguay), Gary Mannina (Luxembourg), Tito Morales (Mexico), Robert Romero (Philippines), and Walter Wolf (Latvia), attended the presentation by U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman at the Southern Food and Beverage Museum. The Executive Director of the Museum and the Deputy Secretary of State both welcomed and honored the Louisiana Consular Corps in their remarks at the event.
On April 4, 2023, a delegation from the Cote d’Ivoire Embassy in Washington, DC visited New Orleans to explore opportunities between that country and Louisiana. As Dean of the Louisiana Consular Corps, the Hon. Bret A. Clesi welcomed His Excellency Ibrahima Toure’, Ambassador of the Cote d’Ivoire to Washington, DC, and his staff to Louisiana and discussed business opportunities in Louisiana and ways in which the Consular Corps could be of assistance to the Cote d’Ivoire.
Louisiana Consular Corps Elects New Board Leadership
