ABQ has a new honorary French consul

From jewelry designer to dignitary, Rémy Rotenier was sworn in Wednesday as Albuquerque’s honorary French consul.

A consul’s job in New Mexico is to help French citizens living in the state with passport paperwork and to give them the means to vote in France.

People only come to the consul when they need something, Rotenier joked.

He arrived in Albuquerque in 1994 and said he knew before he got off the plane he was going to live here.

He was coming to New Mexico to showcase his traditionally made French jewelry in a museum. But what he did not know was that he would meet his now-husband at that museum.

“It has been a great entrapment for me,” Rotenier laughed, a nod to the phrase “Land of Entrapment” that is a takeoff on the state nickname, “Land of Enchantment.”

For the last 30 years, Rotenier has made New Mexico his home, saying his love is split between here and Paris.

Adrien Frier, the French consul headquartered in Los Angeles, bestowed Rotenier with his new title.

“I give you the most precious jewel we have: the French community in New Mexico,” Frier said.

While the French community may not be the first foreign country associated with a New Mexican presence, there are roughly 700 French citizens living in the state, according to the Census Bureau.

“We have a small community,” Frier said.

However, he hoped business and science collaboration between France and New Mexico would grow.

France provides 18% of all foreign investments in New Mexico, according to research by SelectUSA.

From gastronomy and wine to the sciences, French businesses speckle New Mexico’s landscape.

Bruno Barachin and his wife Sabine Pasco are the owners of La Quiche Parisienne Bistro at 5850 Eubank NE.

The two were born in France .

“There was more opportunity,” Barachin said as to why he chose to settle down in Albuquerque back in 2001.

LesCombes is a New Mexico winery operated by French brothers, Florent and Emmanual LesCombes. Veolia is a multinational French company with a branch in New Mexico providing water and waste and energy management solutions to communities and industries.

Outside independent businesses, there are organizations such as Alliance Francaise and Le Groupe Francais d’Albuquerque that teach the French language and reach out to New Mexico’s French population.

“What I really see is a potential for business,” Rotenier said. “They just don’t know that we are here.”