First of all, could you briefly explain to us your field of work? We are familiar with policy and business consultancy. However, what we should understand when talking about diplomatic consultancy?
I am glad you are giving me an opportunity to explain what constitutes diplomatic consultancy. It is a very new field and to the best of my knowledge, no one other than me provides the kind of diplomatic consultancy anywhere else in the world. I specialize in providing political and diplomatic consultancy to small and medium-sized diplomatic missions. I conceived this profession by picking up on a need that I noticed was present amongst the diplomatic corps of some of the countries that had their missions in New Delhi, India. Let me explain this a little bit more. The diplomatic missions of large countries such as the United States, China, and Russia have a large diplomatic staff wherever they have a diplomatic mission and this staff is well equipped and resourced for all sorts of activities. Unfortunately, the diplomatic missions of medium or small sized countries such as Angola, Israel, Kazakhstan, and Tunisia to name just a few do not have the kind of resources they would like to have for reasons such as the cost of maintaining a huge diplomatic staff. Furthermore, the number of diplomats a mission can have is based on the principle of reciprocity to a large extent and if the host country does not have a huge diplomatic presence in a foreign country then that country normally does not have a huge diplomatic presence in that country.
Keeping these limitations in mind, the workload of even small to medium sized missions has increased multifold but their resources have not. This created a need for the kind of diplomatic consultancy that I provide and no doubt the service that I provide is very niche and unparalleled. As I have a presence in India also, my services got a tremendous boost because of the confusing nature of domestic Indian politics coupled with the nuances involving coalition politics. A lot of diplomatic missions in India which were keen on increasing their bilateral activities with what is termed as emerging India were having a hard time understanding domestic Indian politics. This allowed them to use my services as a freelance diplomat. I started to provide them consultancy on issues of bilateral importance, how to deal with the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, applying for Line(s) of credit, international summit meetings, and even heads of state meetings of organizations such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and BRICS. In a nutshell, diplomatic consultancy is being a “diplomat’s diplomat”.
Given the present scenario of globalization, diplomacy has assumed increased significance and professional expertise. What is your opinion equips you to be a consultant in the highly sensitive field of diplomacy?
In the last few decades, there indeed has been an increased emphasis on globalization and every country is trying its level best to not be left out. Majority of the countries have started using diplomacy as a frontline tool in this effort and that in itself has placed an overbearing emphasis on the skilled art of diplomacy. In such an environment, it is not easy to provide diplomatic and political consultancy to diplomatic missions but I bring some highly skilled expertise to my services starting with having a Masters degree in Diplomatic Studies to having an unparalleled knowledge in how bilateral negotiations between two countries are successfully handled. I am a highly skilled negotiator who can analyze various aspects of multiple scenarios in a very short period and that allows me to guide the diplomatic missions. A key component of being successful in such an activity is also having higher than normal degree of understanding of international affairs, being able to read in between the lines of various governmental manoeuvres and processing that information in such a manner that no one else can do so. The Ambassadors and the High Commissioners who end up consulting me value this skill because it shortens the time it takes their mission to analyze the situation and take advantage of it. I was once told by a Former Ambassador of Ecuador to India that using my services the missions could be proactive in their dealings rather than being reactive.
How would you describe diplomacy with special focus on economic diplomacy in the present worldview?
Economic diplomacy is a concept that is playing a very important role pretty much on a daily basis in the field of diplomacy with a lot of countries appointing specialized officials as “Economic Diplomats” alongside the traditional career diplomats. Economic Diplomacy is the use of the full spectrum economic tools of the state to achieve its national interest. Versatility, flexibility, sound judgment and strong business skills are all needed in the execution of economic diplomacy. Economic diplomats also monitor and report on economic policies in foreign countries and give the home government advice on how to best influence them. It has now been acknowledged by governments of various countries that traditional diplomats belonging to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs lack the economic or business related skills that are necessary to promote the economic interests of the country. Countries like the United States, the United Kingdom, China and to some extent newer players like India and Brazil are increasingly using economic diplomacy to further their interests. Last November I had been invited by the Slovenia – Zambia Business Club in Ljubljana, Slovenia to speak on the concept of “economic diplomacy” as an expert and the Former Vice President of Zambia Mr Enoch Kavindele was also a panellist alongside with me. It was in this business roundtable that I had mentioned that even small countries like Slovenia are waking up to the importance of economic diplomacy and it has appointed over 28 economic diplomats in their Embassies. Essentially unless a diplomatic mission is located in a hostile country, all diplomatic missions are first and foremost tasked with promoting trade and commerce over any other activity. The performance of Ambassadors and High Commissioners is benchmarked against how much trade could they promote or increase during their tenures. Economic diplomacy is a concept that is not only going to be in the forefront of all diplomatic activity but something that cannot be overlooked at any cost.
What are some of the highlights of your work with various diplomatic missions that you can share with us?
Although a lot of work that I do is highly confidential in nature I can share some aspects of issues or projects handled by me in the past few years. In October 2015 India hosted the India – Africa Forum Summit and it was during this time that some of the African countries were suspecting that India would increase the prices of life-saving HIV / AIDS medicines that are used in some of the African countries. At that time the diplomatic missions of some African countries sought my help in coordinating and formulating a strategy aimed at getting assurances from the Prime Minister of India that prices of HIV / AIDS medicines would not be increased. I also devised hedging strategies for these diplomatic missions should India not accept their request and these hedging strategies included working within the World Trade Organization umbrella and formulating the key incentives that some African countries could give to Indian pharmaceutical companies in order for them to shift their production to African countries or transfer their technology. For this, I had spoken to diplomats from countries such as Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia, Kenya, Malawi, Guinea, Tunisia, Angola, just to name a few.
Another issue I can highlight is that in September 2016 the Indian Minister of State for Foreign Affairs was travelling to Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon to get a feel of the ground realities in these countries. I worked with the Embassies of these three countries to help them better understand the reasons for the Minister’s trip and to help them use the trip to get concessions from the Government of India.
My work in Slovenia is a bit different. For example, in Slovenia, the Honorary Consul of Zambia in Slovenia uses my services for almost all diplomatic activities that the Consulate has to undertake: such as dealing with the Embassy of Zambia in Germany, dealing with the Slovenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and even dealing with various ministries of Government of Zambia. The Embassy of India in Slovenia would consult with me on how to best promote India in Slovenia. All in all there is always a new issue every single time I deal with a diplomatic mission.
Does your work as a diplomatic consultant also make you an expert on foreign policy or diplomacy or both?
Diplomacy is the frontline tool of implementing foreign policy. One cannot look at either of them in isolation as both of them go hand in glove and both of them are very skilful art forms. So in order to consult with Heads of Diplomatic Missions; having an unsurpassed ability, skill, and knowledge of not only foreign policy and diplomacy is needed but that of international affairs coupled with global politics is necessary. You must remember that Heads of Diplomatic Missions and the diplomats at other levels serving in diplomatic missions are very seasoned professionals who themselves have worked in various countries making them knowledgeable in many things. In order to deal with such professionals, one must be an expert in various professional fields; which I can confidently say I am.
In your opinion, do you contribute successfully towards increased international cooperation and amity?
I most certainly do so. As an example, I go back to your earlier question about my work with diplomatic missions. In the case of my work with some African diplomatic missions on the issue of HIV / AIDS medicines being imported from India, it was purely because of my coordinating and strategizing abilities that various African countries got the benefits or concessions they were seeking from India. Anything that results in a mutually beneficial situation for two or more countries automatically results in promotion and increase of international cooperation and amity between nations.
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