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Ambassadors visit the Tribal Council and the reservation

By B.L. Azure

Morocco Ambassador Aziz Mekouar shakes hands and converses with Polson District Councilman Steve Lozar at Tuesday’s council meeting. (B.L. Azure photo)

PABLO — The Tribal Council chambers had a bit of an international feel to it Tuesday as ambassadors from several nations stopped by for a brief visit. The five ambassadors - from Columbia, Vietnam, Peru, Morocco and New Zealand - were in Montana because of the red carpet laid out by Democratic Sen. Max Baucus.

Janis Lazda, Baucus staffer, said the ambassadors were in Montana at the behest of the state’s senior senator as part of an economic development tour. This is the third such tour that links different aspects of Montana’s economic sector to potential international markets.

“We brought them to Montana to get an economic overview of the state. The economy of the world is so integrated now that we can’t short ourselves on opportunities to participate in it,” Lazda said. Sen. Baucus is the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee and Lazda is his senior staff person on the committee. “Along the way we give Montanans a chance to meet and chat with the ambassadors. We feel it is very important that they meet the tribal people too as a way of promoting their economies and what they may have to market internationally.”

New Zealand Ambassador Roy Ferguson addressed the Tribal Council by greeting them in the Maori tribal language and thanking them for the hospitality. (B.L. Azure photo)

New Zealand Ambassador Roy Ferguson, speaking the Maori tribal language on behalf on the ambassadors, greeted the Tribal Council three times according Maori tribal traditions. He said he chose to speak Maori out of respect for the tribal people of New Zealand as well as the tribal people - Salish, Kootenai and Pend d’Oreille - of the Flathead Indian Reservation.

“It is a great privilege to be here today with you and to have this opportunity to speak to you,” Ferguson said. “I know you have established some links to New Zealand through the Maori people.”

Ferguson presented the Tribal Council with a book and DVD about the people of New Zealand.

Several ambassadors from throughout the world along with the staff of Sen. Max Baucus visited with the CSKT Council Tuesday on a swing through western Montana. (From left are: Socialist Republic of Vietnam Ambassador Le Cong Phung and wife Nguyen Thi Nhan; Kingdom of Morocco Ambassador Aziz Mekouar; New Zealand Ambassador Roy Ferguson and wife Dawn Ferguson; Silvia Constain of Columbia and Republic of Columbia Ambassador Carolina Barco Isakson; and Peru Ambassador Felipe Ortiz de Zevallos. (B.L. Azure photo)

The tour is not only meant to establish economic links but also educational links. Lazda said the University of Montana and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam formalized a student exchange program. “University of Montana students can now study at Vietnam universities and vice versa,” he said.

There have already been links between Salish Kootenai College and the Maori people related to tribal language preservation, Lazda said.

While in the state the ambassadors met with business interests in the agriculture, timber and biofuels as well as tribal people.