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Diplomatic Academy of the Caribbean Takes On Diplomatic Law

For Release Upon Receipt - June 18, 2014

St. Augustine


UWI Regional Headquarters, Jamaica: Just over a month since the Diplomatic Academy of the Caribbean was launched, it has already graduated its first cohort of 23 students in Contemporary Diplomacy: Issues and Processes and is less than one week away from its second module on Protocol and Diplomatic Law.   

The Academy, a joint project between the Government of Trinidad & Tobago and its Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and The University of the West Indies (The UWI) through its Institute of International Relations, was successfully launched at the St. Augustine campus of The University of the West Indies on May 6. It was immediately followed by the intense 5-day inaugural module on Contemporary Diplomacy: Issues and Processes, facilitated by Professors Jorge Heine and Andrew Cooper from the Balsillie School of International Affairs, co-editors of the Oxford Handbook on Modern Diplomacy. Participants at the inaugural module were guided through the fundamentals of public diplomacy and the balancing of national, regional and global interests as well as contemporary challenges diplomats face.  

Protocol and Diplomatic Law, the next module, will be staged in two cycles – the first, June 23rd to 27th and the second, June 30th to July 4.  It is a “training of trainers” programme, to transfer not only knowledge and aptitudes to participants, but also to introduce them to the necessary training technology and equip them to initiate and conduct training actions at the level of their respective departments, units, and organizations, assuring thus multiplier effects over time and over future trainees. This module will be facilitated by the Washington Center for Protocol. 

According to Professor Andy Knight, Director of The UWI’s Institute of International Relations, “Unlike other diplomatic academies, the Diplomatic Academy of the Caribbean was envisioned as a training facility that would give prospective and current Caribbean diplomats the competence to practice a new form of diplomacy that would be relevant to the changed condition of the 21st Century”.  

Persons interested in learning more about the Diplomatic Academy of the Caribbean should e-mail diplomaticacademy@sta.uwi.edu, call 868 662 2002 extension 8208 or visit http://sta.uwi.edu/iir/academy.asp 

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About The Diplomatic Academy

The Diplomatic Academy of the Caribbean is a global academy for Caribbean Diplomacy, the first of its kind in the region, seeks to provide learning and training to a cross-section of target groups and beneficiaries involved in international cooperation negotiations and transactions within the CARICOM region and beyond. http://sta.uwi.edu/iir/academy.asp

About The UWI 

Since its inception in 1948, The University of the West Indies (UWI) has evolved from a fledgling college in Jamaica with 33 students to a full-fledged, regional University with over 50,000 students. Today, UWI is the largest, most longstanding higher education provider in the Commonwealth Caribbean, with four campuses in Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Open Campus. The UWI has faculty and students from more than 40 countries and collaborative links with 160 universities globally; it offers undergraduate and postgraduate degree options in Food & Agriculture, Engineering, Humanities & Education, Law, Medical Sciences, Science and Technology and Social Sciences. UWI’s seven priority focal areas are linked closely to the priorities identified by CARICOM and take into account such over-arching areas of concern to the region as environmental issues, health and wellness, gender equity and the critical importance of innovation. Website: http://www.uwi.edu/

 

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