Nevada hoping to attract consulates of other nations

Mathis Winkler

Thursday, March 14, 2002 | 9:12 a.m.

Tourists Top 10 countries bringing tourists to Las Vegas by plane in 2000:

Consulates

Other countries serve Nevada from consulates in California or their embassies in Washington, D.C.

SOURCE: Nevada Consular Corps, Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority

About 40 consuls representing countries in cities throughout the United States will convene in Las Vegas this weekend, and state officials hope diplomatic representation in Nevada will increase as a result.

"Nevada is a very international state, and it's extremely important" to bring consuls to Las Vegas, said Lt. Gov. Lorraine Hunt, the state's chief promoter of foreign relations as chairwoman of the commissions on tourism and economic development.

Hunt will address the consuls during their three-day meeting that begins Friday at the Palms hotel. This is the first time the consuls are meeting outside of Washington, D.C.

Only Mexico maintains a consulate with career diplomats in Nevada. Honorary consuls, who don't get paid and have limited powers, represent eight other countries in the state.

Most nations serve Nevada from consulates in California or embassies in Washington. Countries such as Lithuania, Nigeria and Cyprus, which will have consuls at the convention, aren't likely to open permanent offices in Las Vegas anytime soon.

Gayle Anderson, the global trade representative and chief of protocol for the Nevada Commission on Economic Development, said she is trying to attract at least 11 more consulates.

"It's a great advantage to have them in Nevada," she said. "They are here to see what the state has to offer. We have 700 companies here that are exporters, and as we're trying to diversify our economy it's very important to reach out to the international business community."

Berenice Rendon Talavera, who became Mexico's first consul in Las Vegas in February, said she and her staff of 10 have been too busy dealing with requests for passports and other documents to work on promoting economic ties between her country and Nevada.

"We've been seeing 200 people a day," she said, adding that the Mexican government decided to open the consulate to serve about 300,000 of its citizens who are living in the state.

Anderson said she's working with officials from Canada, Japan and the United Kingdom -- the top three countries in terms of bringing tourists to Nevada -- to open consulates in Las Vegas.

"We're reaching out into the community to get recommendations for persons interested in being a consul," she said, adding that American citizens can represent foreign countries as honorary consuls.

Sigrid Sommer, a native of Germany, has served as her country's honorary consul in Las Vegas since 1986. What began as part-time volunteer work has turned into a full-time, unpaid position for Sommer, who said as many as one million Germans visit Las Vegas each year.

Unlike career diplomats, she has limited diplomatic immunity.

"I can get a a speeding ticket," Sommer said.

She cannot issue passports or visas and forwards such requests to the consulate in Los Angeles, but her job is "to be a link in case of need," she said.

That's a crucial role, said Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, recalling a September 2000 bus crash that left dozens of British tourists injured.

While Britain's consul general in Los Angeles immediately came to Nevada, "he had to return home, and I was left in charge of a group of visitors from a foreign country," Goodman said.

"They would have felt much more secure" with a British representative in Las Vegas, he said.