Few in Montana may have experienced a need to follow the New York or Washington, D.C., advice to steer clear of diplomatic license plates. (The drivers have diplomatic immunity if there's an accident.) For us, the international diplomatic world is foreign, encountered only briefly when ambassadors divert from the nation's capital or consuls visit from U.S. trade centers.

Yet, there is a home-grown diplomatic world here in the form of honorary consuls who live in Montana and work at their regular jobs but also maintain an international presence for the countries they represent. They don't have diplomatic license plates but they do have duties and some privileges.

The newest honorary consul is Ric Bridwell, who retired from the Montana National Guard as Montana State Partnership Coordinator. He says his official papers are to arrive April 10, naming him as an honorary consul for the Republic of Kyrgyzstan. Bridwell had been working with Kyrgyzstan as part of the Guard's Partnership program.

One of the longest serving honorary consuls in Montana is James Sites, an attorney in Billings, who interviewed for the post of honorary consul for the Norwegian government in 1987 and has served ever since.

Another experienced honorary consul is Bob Swartout, a Carroll College history professor and Asian specialist. Swartout isn't sure exactly who nominated him to be an honorary consul for South Korea in 1998. But his background made him a good candidate: service in the Peace Corps in South Korea and a two-time Fulbright Fellow who studied in South Korea. Swartout considers the appointment an opportunity to bring two worlds together, the world of the 12th largest economy in the world, South Korea, and the Big Sky Country.

Honorary consuls typically are chosen by governments in other countries to serve as citizen ambassadors for the country that has chosen them for this honor. They work in their regular jobs but when called upon for celebrations, introductions or other services, they provide links of grassroots understanding. Not all countries use honorary consuls nor do all states have them.

Swartout's diplomatic opportunities include contacts with the thousand or so Montana residents of South Korean descent, who last year formed the Korean Association of Montana. The majority of the Montanans with South Korean ancestry live in Montana's larger cities: Billings, Missoula, Great Falls, and Bozeman. Churches in these communities often have events to which Swartout is invited.

More official duties include serving as liaison for South Korean government officials who travel to Montana to meet state and local officials. They typically do so once a year. Similarly, once a year Swartout travels to Seattle to meet with the South Korean consul general there and other South Korean honorary consuls from Alaska and Oregon.

A particular honor, Swartout says, came between 2000 and 2003 when he participated in statewide activities that recognized the 50th anniversary of the Korean War and the sacrifices of Montanans who fought in that war. Swartout is serving in his second term and, under South Korean rules, is term-limited after the end of his second 5-year term in 2008.

Honorary consuls also meet with civic groups, which gives them a venue to talk about the importance of the countries that they represent and the cultural, economic, and historical ties those countries, or emigrants from those countries, have with Montana.

For Sites, the numerous Sons of Norway organizations provide contacts around the state. His duties also include travel-related functions for the Norwegian consulate general in Minneapolis, such as handling passport and visa renewals and immigration questions. He even can accept ballots from qualified Norwegian voters at their elections.

As Sites sees the job of honorary consul, "They allow diplomatic representation in far more areas than career foreign service personnel could accommodate. A consul for a foreign country stationed here represents a 'window on the world' for Montanans and can facilitate contacts and arrangements."

Being appointed as an honorary consul means that not only a foreign government thinks highly of the appointee, but that the U.S. State Department also approves of that person as a "citizen ambassador." Sites notes that countries have international agreements regarding the legal status of consuls and their rights and authority to act on behalf of the country they represent.

It's an unusual, unpaid job. And the few chosen for that job are a resource for both countries as well as for Montana.

Upcoming Events:

- April 11, Governor's Tourism Conference in Great Falls, featuring international spot marketing.

- April 20-22, University of Montana conference on Islam, with invitations to the Ambassadors of Kyrgyzstan and Azerbaijan. Governor Brian Schweitzer is invited as the luncheon speaker. For more information contact 406-243-2288, UM's Office of International Programs, Missoula.

- April 27, Montana State University, Brown Bag Seminar on Zambia and Zimbabwe. Noon. Bozeman, Student Union Room 275.

Pat Murdo writes Here and There for the Helena International Affairs Council.