Ambassador Stavros Lambrinidis and Mario Castillo

Artful Diplomacy
By C. Naseer Ahmad
Washington, DC

Diplomacy helps bridge gaps, shorten distances that one must travel, and sometimes resolve intractable problems. Some consider it an art. Though art itself can help lubricate the diplomatic machinery and move lumbering bureaucracy at warp speed.

HE Stavros Lambrinidis, currently serving as EU Ambassador to the United States, is a public servant who has mastered the art of diplomacy. Afterall, his job is to represent twenty-seven member states which requires some unique skills. Ambassador Lambrinidis has a distinguished career and has served as the Foreign Minister of Greece. He was a leading candidate to become the UN Under Secretary General for Public Information and has been a champion of human rights. Ambassador Lambrinidis is designated to be the next EU representative to the United Nations.

The official residence of the EU Ambassador is a historic place, once the home of late Treasury Secretary C. Douglas Dillon, who served in the Kennedy Administration and was the US Ambassador to France earlier in his career. It is one of the most beautiful buildings in Washington, DC. Invitations to the EU Ambassador’s residence are coveted because every gathering in this beautiful is something special to remember.

Each EU Ambassador enriches the cultural life in Washington, while advancing the interest of the 27-member organization. There is always something new and refreshing to see at this magnificent residence which radiates design, purpose, and unity.

When Ambassador Lambrinidis moved into his new official residence, he did not bring a Picasso or Van Gogh painting nor some relic from his native Greece. Instead, he and his wife, Phoebe Kapouano, decorated the house with ceramics, paintings and sculptures borrowed from the San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts. By doing so, he shortened the distance between San Angelo, Texas, and Washington DC. “I never wanted to look at this house as a mirror in which to look at myself, but as a window in which to look at the United States,” Ambassador Lambrinidis said.

In life sometimes things appear magically out of thin air. But, for a large part some planning, hard work, and diplomacy can move mountains. In this case, getting the artwork to the official residence also involved citizen diplomacy.

Mario Castillo, currently a lobbyist who was the Chief of Staff on the Committee on Agriculture of the US House of Representatives, is a quintessential citizen diplomat who has found a way to bridge ideological gaps through his long service as the Chief of Staff of a House Committee. Hailing from San Angelo, Texas, Mario has helped connect San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts with Ambassador Lambrinidis so that the display is on loan to the historic residence.

To move the artwork, Mario jumped into action, tapping his contacts in San Angelo and obtained a catalog from which the ambassador and his wife could choose. Mario convinced San Angelo artist René Alvarado in driving a moving truck 24 hours straight to get the artwork from San Angelo to Washington.

“We happen to be a city of 100,000 population, and yet we feel like we’re a city of 1 million people because the length of Mario’s arms is so long,” San Angelo Mayor Brenda Gunter reportedly said when she traveled to DC for the showcase’s opening a few years back.

Guests of Ambassador Lambrinidis can view amazing artwork on display in different rooms at the residence. Despite putting in a long day’s work, Ambassador Lambrinidis is eager to share the story about each painting or sculpture. This is something that the guests enjoy because they might not get such experience or attention in the art galleries around town.

In late August during a gathering at the official residence, Mario Castillo presented Ambassador Lambrinidis with a citation on behalf of Honorable Mayor Brenda Gunter conferring honorary citizenship of the city of San Angelo Texas.

Readers will relate to Ambassador Lambrinidis’s Greek heritage because of the historic connections between Greece and Pakistan. Along the Jhelum River, there are numerous reminders that Alexander the Great left behind centuries ago. As reported by Philip Chrysopoulus in the Greek Reporter on August 1, 2023 “the people of the Kalash tribe, who live in the Chitral District of Pakistan believe that they are the descendants of Alexander the Great’s troops who settled in the area about 23 centuries ago.”

A few days ago, this writer finished translating Dr Munawwar Ahmad’s book “A Volunteer’s Story” – about the three years when he started a clinic in rural Nigeria and later set up free medical camps in rural areas around Lahore - from Urdu into English. So, I will share some words of the good doctor to put things in context.

“It was the Greek civilization that gave us Aristotle, Plato, and Socrates. As students, we read about them, and they all left an impression on our young minds. So, while visiting all the historical landmarks in Athens, I was thinking about what impressed me most about their thoughts. For example, while in Athens, my thoughts were focused on what I associated with Aristotle:

• Democracy takes roots when people begin to think that if there are equal to others in one aspect then they must be equal in all aspects in life.
• One should leave the world as if you are leaving a party not as a glutton but with some grace.
• Neither skill nor education can truly change one’s temperament.
• Repetition becomes a habit, so it is good to have good habits.
• Sentiment should not be part of the laws we make.
• If you listen to an idea, then adopt it well.
• Happiness is a choice.”