EDITORIAL - After the noise, Mr Bartlett has a job to do

It is unfortunate that Ed Bartlett, the shadow foreign minister, couldn't entirely restrain himself from jumping into Tuesday's parliamentary brouhaha over the foreign travels of Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller and other members of her Government.

The good thing, though, is that Mr Bartlett's participation was limited. He tried to wade in towards the end, demanding a statement from the PM about her recent attendance of a summit of Latin American and Caribbean leaders in Cuba.

Mr Bartlett, therefore, was unable to do too much damage to himself and his role in a portfolio he recently assumed. So, he still has an opportunity to shape and articulate a serious foreign-policy position for the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and extricate his party leader from his attempts at emotive trivia which, while they might excite the partisans, offer little by which to manage a country.

PUBLIC HYSTERIA

It has become a favourite pastime of Jamaica's political opposition, of whichever party, to attempt to create public hysteria about the travels of members of the Government. These trips are usually portrayed as expensive junkets, while the rest of the country lives in penury.

For all the attempt to sound high-minded about it, there is little doubt that this was the intent of JLP leader Andrew Holness' questions about government ministerial travels, on which the Government reported that it spent just under J$118 million for the 23 months up to last December.

This newspaper, as we have said previously, is in support of transparency about the travels of ministers, including statements about the reasons for their trips and the outcomes thereof.

But as we stressed in these columns in January, ministerial travel ought not to become political footballs, or sources of cheap partisanship. For we take diplomacy/foreign affairs seriously.

However, we perceive a wider context to modern international relations than the Opposition appears to contemplate. While it remains an important element of the process, modern diplomacy is not necessarily, or even primarily, political relations between states. Increasingly, in modern global markets and integrated economies, it involves deeper interaction between state parties and private enterprises.

REPLICATE OSBORNE'S SUCCESS

Indeed, in some countries, the close relationships between state and commerce require an economic diplomacy that engages both at the same time. It is indeed an example of this kind of diplomacy to which we previously drew attention in highlighting British Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne's trip to China last October, in which he smooched his way to billions of dollars of Chinese investment in the United Kingdom.

This newspaper wishes that Jamaican officials can replicate Mr Osborne's success in China and elsewhere. But we are also aware that even with the marvels of today's communication technology, they are unlikely to get far sitting in Jamaica. Often, too, significant returns, eco-nomic or political, from building relations are not immediate, as was the case with our four decades of principled friendship with China.

This brings us back to Mr Bartlett and the JLP. It seems obvious to this newspaper that foreign affairs, like the economy, is an area in which the JLP is yet to develop and articulate clear and credible policies. So, it seeks to substitute populism for serious ideas.

Ed Bartlett has an opportunity to change that. He needs urgently to put together a foreign policy team to develop an agenda worthy of Jamaica's history in this sphere.

The opinions on this page, except for the above, do not necessarily reflect the views of The Gleaner. To respond to a Gleaner editorial, email us: editor@gleanerjm.com or fax: 922-6223. Responses should be no longer than 400 words. Not all responses will be published.