An International conference on the diplomacy of small states, organised by DiploFoundation in partnership with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Commonwealth Secretariat and the Swiss Agency for Development and Co-operation, will be held at the Coastline Hotel on Thursday and Friday. The conference will be opened Foreign Affairs Minister Michael Frendo.
Professor Lino Briguglio, director of Islands and Small States Institute at the Foundation for International Studies, will talk about "The role of small island states in global issues". Ambassador Victor Camilleri, Malta's Permanent Representative to the UN in New York, will discuss "How small states influence diplomatic practice: A look at the fourth round of accession negotiations to the European Union";
Anna Catania from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will present a paper on "The impact of the Voice over Internet Protocol system of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs". Olaph Terrible, director of Protocol and Consular Affairs within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, will talk about "How the diplomacies of small states protect their interests and citizens in the case of an international crisis". Former Foreign Affairs Minister Alex Sceberras Trigona will discuss "Representation of small states".
Prominent foreign speakers include Garrett Fitzgerald, former Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ireland, who will discuss "How small and big states negotiate", Professor Alan Henrikson from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, will talk about "The large diplomacy of small states", and Dr Mathhias Maass from the National University of Singapore, on "Small states' foreign policy from the perspective of international relations theory".
Other speakers include Ambassador Chris Lamb, head of external relations of the Federation of the Red Cross and Crescent, Professor Vladimir Petkovski, former Ambassador of Macedonia to China, and Ambassador of Jamaica to Germany, Marcia Gilbert-Robert.
The Malta conference will set the stage for a broader project, tailored to the needs of small states, involving diplomatic training, research, and the creation of an information portal, the preparation of a diplomatic toolkit for diplomats of small states and a publication of a book. The local event is the first in a series which include a seminar on small states and multilateral institutions to be held in Geneva, and one in Brussels on small states and the EU, with the closing event planned for the Commonwealth Secretariat in London.
The conference may be of interest to policy-makers and diplomats from small states, as well as academics and students of international relations and diplomacy. For more information and registration e-mail: conference@diplomacy.edu or visit the conference Website www.diplomacy.edu/Conferences/SmallStates. Alternatively call 2133-3323.