Delegates from 55 institutions from 48 countries with representation from every continent of the world met in Santiago, Chile for the International Forum on Diplomatic Training from September 6-8, 2017. This meeting of Deans and Directors of Diplomatic Academies and Institutes of International Relations was organized by the Diplomatic Academy of Chile “Andrés Bello” and the programme focused on ‘Diplomatic training on the content and implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’.
As the only representative from the English-speaking Caribbean, the Diplomatic Academy of Chile invited the Manager of the DAOC, Dr. Khellon Roach to speak on Panel 2 of the forum: “The Regional Scenario: Tackling Key Political and Development Challenges and Opportunities in Latin America and the Caribbean”.
Dr. Roach highlighted six main challenges to the Caribbean region: Crime & Security; Health, in particular, non-communicable diseases); Energy Security; Climate Change and the Environment; Natural Disasters; and Access to Financing not only to address the various challenges, but to also implement the new 2030 SDG Agenda.
Dr. Roach also underscored the importance of multi-track diplomacy for the Caribbean to punch above its weight and the need for deeper collaboration between the academies and institutions of Latin America and the Caribbean.
The organization of the IFDT around the 2030 SDGs was a very timely intervention and beneficial to the DAOC as it plans to offer several programmes related to the 2030 SDG agenda in 2018. Although the DAOC is not, at present, a member of the IFDT, after consultation with representatives of its co-chair (Diplomatic Academy of Vienna), the DAOC is actively considering formal membership.
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