New course on ‘International Relations’

Advancing Professional Diplomacy new certificate course (GC 30) on International Relations and Diplomacy will be inaugurated on November 1, 2010.

While a prime function of the BIDTI would be to train appointees to the Sri Lanka Foreign Service, as well as those appointed to carry out diplomatic functions, a decision was made to give a national character to the Institute with a view to promote knowledge of diplomacy and international relations to the nation at large.

It is in this background that the BIDTI began to offer special courses designed for the general public in the form of a nine month Diploma Course and a four month Certificate Course. Through the years these courses have proved immensely popular and certificates are awarded under the auspices of the Prime Minister and the External Affairs Minister.

Diplomacy today has expanded beyond its conventional political functions to encompass economics, financial and developmental matters, educational, cultural, scientific and technological exchanges, military and legal matters, social and humanitarian issues.

The range of actors has broadened to include not only diplomats and officials but also the public, business, academia, artistes, the press and civil society. With the new technological developments heightening the speed of communications, techniques and technologies deployed for the conduct of professional diplomacy have changed, and communication skills have to be sharpened.