The New Haven area is home to a number of honorary consuls and one official consulate, which are tasked with connecting locals to foreign markets and cultures.
Nellie Kenney
Contributing Reporter
Ximena Solorzano, Head Photography Editor
Diplomats in New Haven are working to build ties between the city and the rest of the world.
New Haven’s growing startup and biotech scene has attracted the attention of foreign governments, which are represented by diplomats in the New Haven area who are working to connect the city’s residents and businesses with foreign markets and cultures. The New Haven area is home to an Ecuadorian Consulate and honorary consuls representing countries including Romania, Hungary and Germany.
For German Honorary Consul Janet Sutherland, the city’s culture stands out.
“New Haven is unique,” Sutherland wrote in an email to the News. “Brilliant minds here, tons of innovation and investment in areas like tech, biotech and aerospace, there is a powerful startup scene here, easy to reach both NYC and Boston and very importantly, New Haven has a multicultural flair.”
Christopher Ball, an honorary consul for Hungary, coordinates with Dana Bucin, an honorary consul for Romania, to host events in New Haven. Their events, Ball said, are a resource for Connecticut businesses interested in doing business in Europe.
Bucin spoke enthusiastically about her efforts to encourage cultural exchange between Romania and Connecticut.
“I’m in charge of making sure you guys know about Romanian culture,” she said. “Whether it’s music or visual arts or crafts or any form of art.”
Bucin, who shares updates about her consular work on a FaceBook page with over 3,000 followers, said she attends Romanian festivals and church gatherings and that she supports “what the community is doing, keeping the Romanian traditions alive.”
One such tradition is the National Day of Romania, which Bucin said is celebrated at the Connecticut State Capitol each year.
“That’s an amazing occasion to display Romanian art, culture, politics, legal, medical, et cetera and other exchanges,” she said.
Bucin and Ball both expressed concerns about how their constituents may be affected by President Donald Trump’s immigration policies.
“I hear from Hungarian businesses struggling today with the U.S. market and from CT businesses trying to import goods they need for manufacturing but have trouble due to tariffs,” Ball said.
Ball also described working with a scholarship program for Hungarian students interested in studying and working in the United States, which was held up when the government put incoming visas on hold.
“Those scholarship students are supposed to come to the USA for an MBA at Quinnipiac and work at local businesses then return to Hungary,” Ball said. “But businesses are nervous to hire any foreigner these days.”
Bucin said that, in March, the Trump administration excluded Romania from a visa waiver program in which Romania had previously been included.
“Evidently that gives us reason to be sad,” Bucin said. “Instead of getting more Romanian visitors that would bring even more culture and wonderful food and more educational opportunities, we are blocking them from coming here.”
Mayor Justin Elicker described the rhetoric of the Trump administration as opposed to New Haven’s character.
“In this moment where leadership in our nation is oftentimes demonizing people from certain countries, viewing other countries as just another negotiating partner, and pushing rhetoric that is inflammatory and unwelcoming, New Haven is a place that does just the opposite,” he said. “It’s important for us to make every effort to talk about the positive attributes of relationships with other countries.”
Sutherland said that political “ups and downs” between the U.S. and Germany impact her work.
“But I always say that challenges bring opportunity,” she added. “I think that is why local state to state relationships are very important more now than ever.
“I think spending resources on transatlantic partnerships is critical.”
Sutherland and Bucin both encouraged Yale students to get involved.
“I believe, if we bring the brains, the innovators and the investors together on both sides of the Atlantic, the rest will follow,” Sutherland said. It is possible “to form unbreakable bonds, even in these tumultuous times.”
The Consulate of Ecuador, the only formal consulate in New Haven, did not respond to the News’ request for comment.
New Haven has also received delegations from Poland, China, Hong Kong and Mexico, Elicker said.
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