The grammatical problem of be

Be it the International Monetary Fund, the World Health Organisation or the World Trade Organisation, to name a few, and whether participating as members of the U.K. delegation or as representatives of a non-state contracting party, Hong Kong officials had done Hong Kong proud.

I read an article by Regina Ip today. I can’t understand the grammar of the above sentence.
1. Is the word ‘be’ verb?
2. How to use the word ‘be’ in the front of a sentence?
http://www.reginaip.hk/en/node/14252
(whole article can be read by this link)