Dear Mr. Soulage,
I enjoyed reading your article entitled “Investing in the Diaspora”. Unfortunately, our governments over the years have not taken advantage of the resource base of our Diaspora.
There are many St. Lucians at many levels of education playing important roles in the development of more developed countries.
Some time ago, I recommended a Reciprocal Assistance Programme (RAP) where nationals contributing to developing programmes in more developed countries are recruited to serve in less developed countries as part of reciprocal programmes.
It is my view that when more developed countries provide personnel assistance to developing countries, there should be counterpart personnel with qualified nationals serving those more developed countries.
There are examples where this RAP programme has worked.
I have attended many seminars on global Diaspora programmes organized by various institutions in Washington.
Your article is very sound. I hope it will be read by those of influence and look forward to communicating with you on this and other subjects.
Ambassador Dr. Joseph E. Edmunds, OBE