Am I joking? unfortunately NOT!! As a result of an obvious lack of communication, let alone coordination. Russian Ambassador Leonid Golubev, at a meeting with Tarija’s Governance, refused to sign a Letter of Intent. Golubev said that contents were not agreed before with the Governor’s Office of Tarija. The cooperation asked was far and beyond what the Ambassador had in mind…
On a second thought, and after comparing my experience in such matters, I have to say that most of this sorry event, lies in the hands of the Ambassador’s personnel. In my experience, even if a Project Implementation Letter was going to be signed with the Mission Director, there were numerous drafts written and consulted, until a final document could be printed. At a time when the Ambassador had to sign any type of document, special consideration was given to both languages of the document and original documents were in the possession of the Ambassador’s aide, ready tobe signed by both country representatives. So, here the Russian Ambassador either failed to have competent personnel to verify what he was to sign beforehand or it is a common practice for Russian foreign affairs, to let the host country write such papers. Tarija officials on the other hand, may have failed in making sure that what was in the paper was something already agreed by both parties.
Bolivian Thoughts | Pensamientos Bolivianos (Bilingual/Bilingüe) 