15 November 2019
November 13th-15th, Moscow hosted the third Global Forum of Young Diplomats. The event was held with the support of the Council of Young Diplomats of the Russian Foreign Ministry and brought together over 160 participants from 85 countries. This year, the central topic discussed was "Changing the Global World Order".
November 13th, the Chair of the International Affairs Committee of the Federation Council K.Kosachev gave the guests a welcome speech for the opening of the Forum and noted that it is important to seize any opportunity to have a positive influence on foreign policy, to make sure it is efficient and focused on national interests. Indeed the art of diplomacy is to seek agreements and reach compromises, he concluded.
The Minister of the Government of the city of Moscow, Head of the Department for External Economic and International Relations of Moscow Sergei Cheremin, the Minister of the Eurasian Economic Commission Sergei Glazyev, the Head of the non-profit organization "Russian Humanitarian Mission" and international observer E. Primakov, the Special Envoy of the Russian Foreign Ministry for Russian-American Humanitarian Relations S. Segal also greeted the meeting participants. That same day, a meeting of the forum delegates with the Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Alexander Grushko was organized at the Russian Foreign Ministry.
On the second day of the forum, the plenary session "Changing the Global World Order" started at the Diplomatic Academy. The Rector of the University A.Yakovenko spoke to the guests, noting that mutual understanding between the sides in international relations can be achieved only through dialogue and that rejecting communication is what undermines sustainable development throughout the world.
The Chairman of the Council of Young Diplomats K.Kolpakov presented to the guests the activities of the forum and remarked that this year an exceptional number of delegates participated in its activities. MGIMO’s Vice-Rector for Human Resources, V.Morozov spoke about how the world order has changed through the prism of events in the Middle East. The Vice-Rector emphasized the fact that the increasing unpredictability of international relations and the actors involved, makes it all the more necessary to attend meetings at various levels and on different platforms, so that one can understand the positions of all players.
D.Turusbekov, Director of the Department of Protocol and Organizational Support of the Eurasian Economic Commission, A.Sushentsov, Director of MGIMO’s Institute of International Studies, and M.Troyansky, Vice-Rector of the Diplomatic Academy, also spoke at the session. The audience also viewed a video dedicated to the outstanding Russian politician E.Primakov.
The second plenary session looked at the role played by the media, the Internet and humanitarian organizations in contemporary international relations and had for speakers representatives of "Russia Today", Rambler Group, the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Union of Young Lawyers of Russia.
Three thematic sections took place with the participation of faculty members of the Diplomatic Academy. During the section "Image of a Modern Young Diplomat: at the intersection of age-old traditions and new technologies", the Head of MGIMO’s Department for Work with Students and Graduates A.Podshivalov made a presentation about the specificities of training diplomats at MGIMO and the importance of placements in the Russian Foreign Ministry. Anton Podshivalov noted that nowadays one of the key skills diplomats have to acquire is to deal with large flows of information and be capable of analysing and verifying data efficiently in order to make timely and effective decisions.
The participants of the section actively discussed a myriad of issues, including the emergence of digital diplomacy, success in a diplomat’s career and how to develop horizontal ties in diplomacy.
On the last day of the forum, the draft Statute of the International Association of Young Diplomats was reviewed. A Memorandum of Understanding was signed by the Council of Young Diplomats of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Youth Council of the UAE Foreign Ministry, in the presence of Russian Deputy Foreign Minister M.Bogdanov. As an outcome of the Forum, the final document was adopted.
— See the MGIMO web-site for russian version
