For years, the Orange County Office of Protocol in Santa Ana has served as greeting committee and glitzy host for global dignitaries. These days, the office is focused just as much on building business ties between OC and the world.
In the 12 months ended June 30, the protocol office reported a roughly three-fold increase in the number of dignitaries visiting the county looking for business,the vast majority of them from China.
The office received 670 visitors for fiscal 2000, with 608 coming from China. European visitors, including Russians, numbered 28, Africans 22, Latin Americans 4, and other Asians 8.
“Foreign dignitaries visiting here are excited about Orange County,” said Joanne Sokolski, the chief of protocol. “We are competing with Silicon Valley for business, so we’re getting a lot of visits from foreign dignitaries and companies based in the Bay area.”
Back in the 1980s and early 1990s, the protocol office was known for hosting visitors and for its ritzy annual ball for dignitaries and local guests. The office still does those things,this year’s ball is set to be held in April at Anaheim’s Grand Californian Hotel.
These days, about half of the protocol office’s work is focused on business development, according to Richard Doubledee, director of the Protocol Foundation. The office is a county agency, though the private Protocol Foundation does fundraising for events.
The Pacific Rim should continue providing most of the visiting delegations to the county for the current fiscal year, according to Sokolski. The office also expects a large number of dignitaries from Croatia, she added.
The office officially represents the County of Orange to all the U.S.-based diplomats from foreign nations and also represents the county to the U.S. Department of State and the Washington, D.C.-based national Office of Protocol.
“We work with the mayors of all 33 cities as well as 45 trade groups in the county,” Sokolski said. “Because we’re county-based, we disburse business proposals from countries to the appropriate trade groups and the cities based on what an individual country is looking for.”
Sokolski said her office works with more than 100 consuls general, trade attaches and investment officers.
“Every contact I make with a foreign diplomat I always keep in mind that this is a perfect opportunity for economic development for our county,” she said. “I don’t let that opportunity go by without exploring where we can do business and what businesspeople from other countries would be interested in.”
The office also helps with exchanges between OC’s universities and their counterparts abroad, Sokolski said. The office has arranged an exchange of professors between University of California, Irvine’s medical department and Irvine’s friendship agreement city in China, Tanjing.
The office has also arranged exchanges between UCI medical students and medical students of other countries, including Egypt.
Operating since 1984, the office has a staff of six, plus volunteers. Sokolski said she plans to expand the office and add more employees over the next year. n
