Multilateral Training and Work at Foreign Ministries.

• Author: Rana, Kishan S.

Title: Multilateral Training and Work at Foreign Ministries

Author: Kishan S Rana

Text:

Editor's note: The author was India's Permanent Representative to the UN Environment Program and to UN Habitat at Nairobi, 1984-86.

In foreign ministries, as in all organizations, training has risen to the top of the institutional agenda. [1] 'Life-long training' has taken root. In the past, most foreign ministries believed that diplomats needed training on entering the profession, and thereafter learnt on the job. In the past 20 years, at least 30 foreign ministries have established training institutes, including the British Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, which had managed without one for over two centuries. [2] Thanks to increased work demands (new issues on the international agenda, the range of official and non-official partners involved, and concepts like public and diaspora diplomacy), the pace of work, especially multilateral, is more frenetic, complexified.

Another question comes up: is multilateral work a speciality, or is it just a different diplomatic setting, compared with work in a bilateral embassy or consulate? For most countries, around 85 to 90% out of the diplomatic staff based abroad (as distinct from those in the foreign ministry), engage in bilateral work, also working in embassies and consulates, i.e. handling relations with individual foreign states. The balance are to be found in 'multilateral missions', accredited to international or regional organisations. But this is an oversimplification. At around 20 capitals, find the headquarters of multilateral and regional organizations, and the diplomatic missions at such places double as permanent missions accredited to that entity; examples: Addis Ababa (AU), Brussels (EU, NATO), Jakarta (ASEAN), Manilla (ADB), Nairobi (UNEP, Habitat) Paris (OECD, UNESCO), Rome (FAO), Vienna (IAEA, UNDO). At the headquarters, multilateral and regional affairs may occupy around 10 to 15%. In this essay, we will subsume regional work with multilateral affairs.

Other questions come up. How should diplomats be trained for multilateral work? Who should be selected for this work? What are the contemporary trends? We look also at senior management at the US State Department, and professionalization, related to multilateral work. These issues are interconnected.

Size of Diplomatic Services

The US operates the world's largest diplomatic service, and has, jointly with China, the most extensive diplomatic footprint across the globe. [3] The US diplomatic service numbers 13,000. China's numbers around 7500 - an estimate as no official figures are published. UK has just under 5000; France and Germany have slightly fewer. [4] Brazil has nearly 2000, while India's is exceptionally small, at just around 1200, especially in relation to its network of over 125 embassies and permanent missions.

Size naturally guides the specialization that can be pursued. Small states, be it Botswana or Trinidad and Tobago, have foreign services with fewer than 200, and those of micro-states number 50 or less. It stands to reason that with its diplomatic resources the US should treat multilateral work as a major specialized area.

Training Options

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