From a colonial retreat to a modern global workplace

15 October 2015 07:31 pm Views - 1930

To be at the forefront of what the Deputy Foreign Minister Dr. Harsha De Silva termed as “global economic diplomacy” requires the transformation of Sri Lanka’s Foreign Service into a fit for purpose global organisation of the 21st Century. We need to attract and retain talent for diplomatic assignments rather than concern ourselves with cronyism.

Leading a Mission is an important and strategic role requiring dynamic individuals willing to engage with Parliamentarians and key people of influence in host nations on behalf of the Government of Sri Lanka. Our goal should be to establish Sri Lanka as South East Asia’s Geo-Political and Sustainable Economic Hub synonymous with the green agenda.

It should be the duty of each mission to reinforce Sri Lanka’s foreign policy of enmity to none and friendship to all.

In addition to specialised recruitment and further training of existing personnel, we should create state of the art missions utilising the latest technologies, recalibrate the core strategic focus of each mission, properly identify and apportion capital expenditure to bring each Mission to universal standardisation levels for multilateral engagement, and above all there is the desperate need to ensure that our mission heads and staff are properly briefed. 

There may be local solutions to many of these specific challenges and this is where Sri Lanka needs to be smart and be able to facilitate change swiftly.
The next two years are critical in terms of Sri Lanka’s international standing, the UNHRC report threatens interference with Sri Lanka’s Sovereignty and we must ensure a robust rebuttal of many of the hybrid recommendations. 

To do so means, building our international allies but also at the domestic level, we need to act: justice must be done and be seen to be done.

The external geo-political narrative facing the Government was, of course, widely anticipated and the attempts to make a guinea pig out of Sri Lanka appear to suggest an unwelcome transition to a future of inherent uncertainty and dismal economic instability at the hands of non-aligned stakeholders. 
To win and retain friends in the global world, strategic diplomatic engagement is paramount.

Each mission should have a meaningful calendar of events, targets and deadlines set by the Sri Lankan Foreign Office for connections and links to be made/developed by each mission in the host nations. Training in communication and interpersonal skills is essential to develop our global workforce.

Our Foreign Missions perform a variety of roles that must go beyond publicity shoots of Mission Heads lighting oil lamps in temples and Kovils in the host countries.

Once we have ‘professionalised’ the look and personnel of our missions, our focus should turn to trade, investment and tourism.  In Britain, the Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Sri Lanka has already declared his focal point would be trade and investment. 

This is a strategic move away from simply attempting to remotely harmonise fragmented elements of the Diaspora.  The reality is that action in trade and investment would lead to the spread of economic prosperity which in turn helps heal intercommunity ethnic tensions by providing opportunities to all that put an end to discrimination and marginalisation.

There is a lot to be done over the next 18 months but the starting point would be to regard our missions as modern, dynamic and functioning workplaces not outmoded colonial-styled holiday chalets for retired politicos and chums in their twilight years.

The writer is a barrister in England of 13 years call and is also a licensed attorney for the State Bar of New York, USA. She is a Policy Advisor to the Coalition for an International Court for the Environment and stood in the 2015 British General Elections as the Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Cambridge.