ABU DHABI // A new generation of Emirati diplomats is being trained to face all the challenges a tumultuous region and world can throw at them.
The Emirates Diplomatic Academy was established in the capital last year, and Bernardino Leon took on the role of its director general in December.
The Spaniard is aiming is to create a model for Emirati diplomacy.
“Our key work here is excellence and our mandate is to really focus on excellence in knowledge and skills,” said Mr Leon, whose role at the academy is his first in the Gulf. “These are the two elements that a good diplomat must have, but research is a crucial tool and diplomats need curiosity.
“The UAE is such an important global actor today, it needs the best diplomats.”
Diplomacy in the 21st century has very little to do with the diplomacy of 25 years ago, said Mr Leon.
“The UAE is in a region that is going through probably the most difficult time in its recent history.
“The definition of not only the region, but core values of tolerance, hope and living together that have defined civilisation and religion for centuries, and the opening of this region to the rest of the world, are at stake.
“This is a huge battle of ideas and for that you need the best diplomats.”
Mr Leon, formerly the special representative of the United Nations secretary general Ban Ki-moon to Libya, said the academy is a unique project because the position of the UAE in the world is unique.
The academy’s programmes include a nine-month post-graduate diploma in UAE diplomacy and international relations, which the first batch of 58 student are currently working towards.
The academy is a successor to the Emirates Institute of Diplomacy, located within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Dr Albadr Al Shateri, adjunct professor at the National Defence College, helped with the recruitment process.
“The academy is envisaged as a platform, not for training only, but a research centre to keep abreast with world affairs and provide a forum for policy debates on a myriad of issues,” he said. “As the UAE’s role grows regionally and internationally, the academy will assume a leading position as a convocation for policy formulation and research.”
Dr Al Shateri said the academy would prepare UAE diplomats to face a number of challenges.
“The UAE’s advice is sought-after by great powers as evidenced by the flurries of diplomatic activities the country is engaged in,” he said.
“The UAE punches way above its weight and the academy couldn’t have come at a better time.”
With regional turmoil surrounding the UAE, diplomatic institutes are now seen as a must.
“It shows how diplomacy is no longer just some diplomats going into a foreign country and reporting on the major events there,” said Abdulkhaleq Abdulla, political science professor at UAE University and chairman of the Arab Council for Social Sciences.
He said the UAE was becoming more recognised as a vital political and diplomatic capital.
“I think we have a very assertive, foreign policy these days and we have a very engaging leadership that values personal relationship,” he added. “We also have a very dynamic foreign minister so I think the UAE’s diplomacy has come a long way and it’s probably living its golden moment.”
cmalek@thenational.ae