AS the Consul General of Switzerland in Jeddah, Adrien Evoquez looks every inch a senior diplomat. He has distinguished white hair and the dignified bearing of a man who takes the business of representing his country very seriously. The seriousness, however, disguises a gentle and dry humor. Like many Swiss nationals, he speaks several languages: “My mother tongue is French, and in school we had to learn a second national language, which was German, and then English as a foreign language, and in high school and university I learned Spanish.” Evoquez also speaks some Arabic, having spent time in Egypt: “The first time, from 1975 to 1977, I was working with the International Committee of the Red Cross. I spent most of my time with Egyptian military in Sinai and that was an immersion in Arabic speaking. When I returned, from 1991-1995, it was easy to improve my vocabulary and colloquial Arabic.” Evoquez joined the Swiss Diplomatic Service in 1977. By then he had an MA in Law, experience as an officer in the military with the rank of captain, and several years dealing with humanitarian issues. As well as a few tours in his native Switzerland, his career took him to Spain, Zaire, Egypt, Argentina and Korea. Humanitarian issues continued to be part of his work, especially from 1986 to 1991 in Bern: “I was dealing mostly with international humanitarian organizations, with refugees, and migration, and international humanitarian law. For nearly two years, Switzerland hosted the Russian prisoners of the Afghan Mujahideen – I was dealing with this program.” “When I went to Korea in 2000, it was with a Neutral Nations Advisory Commission for the Armistice in Korea. We were posted in a camp in a de-militarized zone that was in between North and South Korea. The delegation on the Swiss side has always had a diplomat, but he also has to have military experience and he must be an officer.” He became consul general in Jeddah in December 2004, and his job covers a broad range of responsibilities. “It was an attractive prospect to discover a country that I had always admired. I had read books about Saudi Arabia, and it had always interested me. “We deal with a large area, the whole of the Western Province, from Tabuk to Najran. The most classical task is to support our Swiss nationals, what we call the ‘colony'. Most of them are in Jeddah, some are studying at the Islamic University in Madina, others are isolated in Tabuk, and you may have some visitors in the south sometimes. We only have around 150 residents, and they have to register when they come so we know where they are in an emergency. The Consulate has to register their newborn children, get certificates, do their passports. We may have visiting Swiss nationals who end up in difficulties, perhaps an accident – any situation where they have to deal with the authorities. Also we have Hajis, or Umrah visitors, so if they lose their passports, or their group, or any other incident, we have to take care of them.” One of the reasons that Switzerland has a Consulate in Jeddah is because of the number of Saudis traveling to Switzerland. “Switzerland is now part of the Schengen agreement, so there is more work, and next year we will have biometric visas – we will take fingerprints and a photograph of each person.” As consul general, an important part of Evoquez's work, with his commercial assistant, is to promote commercial relations, and the reciprocal promotion of investments. “We give information to Saudis who want to import, or who want to look for partners in Switzerland. We also have to be proactive to detect opportunities. Switzerland mainly imports oil from the Kingdom, and our exports, mainly in pharmaceuticals, watches, machines and chemical products, are rising. We have several visiting trade missions in the pipeline. We also give information and facilitate contacts for tourism, schools and clinics in Switzerland.” Observation is a political task that Evoquez finds particularly interesting: “Here in the Hejaz we can listen to tones that are specific; we have contacts here that are not necessarily available in Riyadh. We try to make them profitable and to interact with those contacts in order to know the situation better and to understand it, so we can establish better relations.” He has been involved in the cultural innovation of the European Film Festival, and also sees the hectic social aspect of his diplomatic role as being the foundation of his work: “It has a value in itself because I think the essence of our work is to try to understand others better, to address them in an open way and to establish contacts that are based on trust, tolerance and if possible, friendship.” Evoquez will soon be leaving Jeddah, a posting which he has enjoyed: “I feel that I have been in the middle of some key moments in the region – as a diplomat, you are close to events that are part of history. This is very satisfying.”
