PLANS are in the pipeline to restructure the Foreign Service Institute, in order that it can develop the professional skills of the staff of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.Minister of Foreign Affairs and Second Vice President Carl Greenidge told the Government Information Agency that, “The Foreign Service Institute which was initially established by Mr. Clement Rohee (Former Foreign Affairs Minister) has not been used for that purpose. We have looked at it with a view to making sure you bring into that agency key personnel with practical skills…we are not looking to teach a degree but to take the person who has a first or second degree and move them into a space where they can understand the practice of International Diplomacy.”
Towards achieving this end, the Ministry plans to engage personnel from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) who have the expertise, as well as those who have served as ambassadors in major bilateral centres, including the UN system, to impart their experiences at the Foreign Service Institute.
“This will help to take the professional staff into a space where they understand the practice of International Diplomacy, its requirements, the game of Diplomacy along with its strategy and tactics, and how it is manoeuvred,” Minister Greenidge said.
The restructuring of the Foreign Service Institute is only one aspect through which the ministry will boost the operational capacity of its staff.
Minister Greenidge indicated that he is also looking to bring additional expertise into the ministry, to equip staff with a wider range of skills, such as languages, the new knowledge intensive areas like digitisation and the sciences.
“As regards the mechanisms in place, on a continuing basis, we have been identifying and sending staff for training…recently we sent a staff to Japan to learn Japanese…Chile to undertake a course in Diplomacy… those sorts of arrangements continue,” Minister Greenidge explained.
As the Administration continues to press Guyana’s Foreign Policy agenda, several countries have offered to assist in further training of local professional staff. Recently Mexico offered to tutor staff, both at the graduate and post-graduate levels.