The honorary Dutch consul in the Mozambican port city of Beira, Carlos Mesquita, bursts out laughing and says, “I’m not a diplomat”.  The Dutch embassy asked the businessman to become consul over a decade ago. There are 360 honorary consuls of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. 

The Netherlands has embassies and consulates in over 90 countries. But it’s expensive to send professional diplomats to all those missions. The Netherlands, like many other countries, often asks locals to look after its interests. They do the work free-of-charge for the “honour”.
 
Carlos Mesquita is the director of the company that runs the port of Beira. The position of honorary consul offers many advantages, he says. “I get to meet people who are in senior positions in the government. As a result, I gain a lot of respect, even from the Mozambican authorities.”