By Manal Abdel Fattah
The Institute of Diplomatic Studies of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs organized and hosted a training course in the field of diplomatic capacity building for a group of diplomats from French-speaking African countries, in cooperation with the Egyptian Agency for Partnership for Development.
This course, which was held over two weeks from January 21 to February 1, is one of the regular training activities organized by the Institute every year for the benefit of diplomats from Africa, as it holds one course for diplomats from Francophone African countries, and another for English-speaking African countries.
This year, diplomats representing 13 African countries participated in the training course: Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mauritania, Niger, the Republic of the Congo, Chad, Mali, Togo, Burkina Faso, Gabon, Senegal and Madagascar.
The course program included a set of political, security, economic and legal issues of importance to African participants, and a set of exercises aimed at developing diplomatic skills in the fields of protocol, etiquette, negotiation, crisis management, and dealing with the media. It also included a component on the topics of conflict resolution and management, which was presented by the Cairo International Center for Conflict Resolution, Preservation and Peacebuilding.
The Institute organized a closing ceremony to honor the participants at the end of the course, in the presence of Ambassador Hamdi Loza, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs for African Affairs, Ambassador Ashraf Ibrahim, Secretary General of the Egyptian Agency for Partnership for Development, and Ambassador Walid Haggag, Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs and Director of the Institute of Diplomatic Studies, and with the participation of ambassadors and accredited heads of diplomatic missions. For the African countries that were represented at the session.
In his speech to the participants, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs stressed Egypt’s pride in its historical relations and extended cooperation ties with its brothers in Africa, and Egypt’s commitment to continuing its cooperation and efforts to stand by African countries and provide them with support and share their expertise in all the fields they need, especially in the field of capacity building and rehabilitation. Its diplomatic cadres, and to advance everything that advances the collective interests of the African continent and promotes joint African action.
