ABOUT THE EVENT
Embassies are at the cutting edge of the international
system, agencies of the home system that transact with foreign
countries. Past few years have witnessed evolution of purpose of
diplomacy as set out in the Vienna Convention of Diplomatic Relations
1961, as a consequence of which the role of embassies has been extended
to being that of a promoter, negotiator, communicator, manager,
synthesiser, and service provider across the entire gamut of external
affairs. This proactive and intensive involvement has lead to perceive
embassies as the “CEO’s of multiagency missions reaching out to the
entire society and not just the government”. In that context, Ambassador
Kishan S. Rana raises the question whether embassies are likely to
undergo evolutionary changes adapting to requirements of efficiency and
tighter accountability in his book “The Contemporary Embassy – Paths to
Diplomatic Excellence”. The book discussion session will have experts on
diplomacy reflecting over the main argument of the book on the
departure from formulistic rituals of diplomacy and on ways embassies
could do better.
|
SPEAKERS
|
|
AMBASSADOR KISHAN S RANA, Former Indian Ambassador to Germany
Ambassador Kishan S. Rana is a career diplomat
who joined Indian Foreign Service in 1960. He served as Ambassador/High
Commissioner to Algeria, Czechoslovakia, Kenya, Mauritius, and Germany;
also consul general in San Francisco and worked in China (1963-65,
1970-72). He also served on staff of PM Indira Gandhi (1981-82). In
addition, Ambassador Rana is a Professor Emeritus, DiploFoundation,
Malta and Geneva; Honorary Fellow, Institute of Chinese Studies, Delhi;
Archives By-Fellow, Churchill College, Cambridge; Public Policy Scholar,
Woodrow Wilson Centre, Washington DC; guest faculty, Diplomatic
Academy, Vienna; Commonwealth Adviser, Namibia Foreign Ministry,
2000-01.
|
Ambassador
Rana authored number of books on diplomacy and international affairs
such as Inside Diplomacy (2000); Managing Corporate Culture (co-author,
2000); Bilateral Diplomacy (2002); The 21st Century Ambassador (2004);
Asian Diplomacy (2007); Diplomacy of the 21st Century (2011); India’s
North-East States, the BCIM Forum and Regional Integration, (co-author,
2012); The Contemporary Embassy (2013). Ambassador Rana is fluent in
Chinese and French. He holds a BA (Hons) and a MA in economics, St
Stephens College Delhi. |
|
|
DR C RAJA MOHAN, Distinguished Fellow, Observer Research Foundation
Dr. C Raja Mohan is a Distinguished Fellow at
ORF and is leading the Strategic Studies Initiative of the Foundation.
He is also a foreign affairs columnist for ‘The Indian Express’, a
Visiting Research Professor at the Institute of South Asian Studies,
Singapore, and a Non-Resident Senior Associate at the Carnegie Endowment
for International Peace, Washington DC. Earlier he was a Professor of
South Asian Studies at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi and
the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
|
He
was the Henry Alfred Kissinger Chair in Foreign Policy and
International Relations at the Library of Congress, Washington DC during
2009-10. Dr. Mohan served as the Diplomatic Editor and the Washington
Correspondent of ‘The Hindu’ and the Strategic Affairs Editor of ‘The
Indian Express’. His area of expertise includes India’s Foreign and
Defence policies, Asian Security, Arms Control & Disarmament, and
the Impact of Rising Powers on the Global Order. |
|
|
CHAIR |
|
AMBASSADOR ERIC GONSALVES, Former Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs and Ambassador to Belgium and EEC and Luxembourg
Ambassador Eric Gonsalves is a career diplomat
born on 5 May 1928. He joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1950 and
served in various capacities including Counsellor, London; Deputy Chief
of Mission, Washington; Ambassador to Japan and the European Union;
Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs (Vice Minister). After
retirement he served as Director, India International Centre, Delhi
1986-91, Director, Asian Relations Commemorative Conference 1987,
Member, International Observer Group, Sri Lanka Elections 1989-94,
Member, Board of Management MAHE (now Manipal University) 1994-2006,
President, Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies, New Delhi (till
April 2008).
|
Currently,
he is Member of Governing Body, Centre for Policy Research, Delhi and
Convenor Indian Delegation BCIM (Bangladesh China India Myanmar) Forum.
Ambassador Gonsalves holds a B.SC (Hons) degree from Madras University. |
|
|
No comments:
Post a Comment