Diplofoundation, in partnership with the Maltese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Commonwealth Secretariat, and the Swiss Agency for Development and Co-operation, is organising an International Conference on the Diplomacy of Small States on February 8-9 at the Coastline Hotel. The conference will be opened on Thursday, February 8, at 10 a.m., by Foreign Minister Michael Frendo.

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 on the subject.

This whole process starts with the Malta conference, which will set the stage for events including a seminar in Geneva on small states and multilateral institutions, one in Brussels on small states and the EU, with the closing event planned for the Commonwealth Secretariat in London. The conference, thus, will explore some ambiguities as well as map out some of the characteristics of the diplomacy of small states.

Certainly, one prominent feature of small states is the important role diplomatic activity plays in their existence, where much importance is placed on persuasion and partnership. Also inclining toward rules and institutions in their relations with other states and international entities.

The conference will examine how precisely this has been done and what conclusions may be drawn. These are some of the issues and will be examined in case studies of successful small state diplomacy in modern international relations, multilateral negotiations and public diplomacy. It will also look at the challenges of limited diplomatic training needs of small states.

The conference may be of interest to policy-makers and diplomats from small states, as well as academics working on the topic and students of international relations and diplomacy.

For more information, or to register, send an e-mail on conference@diplomacy.edu, visit the conference Website at: www.diplomacy.edu/Conferences/SmallStates or call 2133-3323.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.