By Peter Potman, director of the Asia and Oceania Department at the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs
As Director of the Asia and Oceania Department I and my team look after our relations with two thirds of the world’s population. We do so with just over 20 people. As the Dutch say: if you are not strong, you have to be smart.
On my first day in office, two years ago, freshly returned from Shanghai, where I served as Consul-General, the Ministry had switched to new working methods as part of our modernization drive. In Shanghai I had a large fancy office. Now I could pick a desk in a large bright room with some twenty people. No more long, dark corridors and a director safely tucked away behind a protective secretary, but a more egalitarian structure and easier communication possibilities.
Indeed, in a world that rapidly changes into a network society, diplomats must adapt as well. We have to become more digitally savvy, use social networks, and be able to work outside of our office. Better ICT, including iPhones and iPads, helps us to work from any place in the world.
One of the core innovations to me is an enhanced interaction with the stakeholders in our foreign policy in the Netherlands. No more ivory tower, because our society is now so internationalized that many people have a stake in foreign policy formulation. That is why we have developed a domestic outreach program, called ‘Asia Carrousel’, through which we organize (networking) events with and for our partners.
For instance, together with the University of Leiden, we brought together our ambassadors in Asia and our universities to deepen our relationship and benefit from their knowledge. They, for their part, interact with Asian students and universities, which from a diplomatic perspective is crucial, since diplomacy is no longer just about States, but also about the interaction between various non-state actors, hence the importance of ‘people to people contacts’.
On another occasion, Asian and Dutch Ambassadors, together with a large group of Dutch experts from the office of the National Prosecutor, the Police and NGOs, discussed the challenge of combatting human trafficking between Asia and the Netherlands with a view to better cooperation.
Of course, our core business remains advancing bilateral relations, and promoting Dutch policy priorities in an Asian context. In doing so, we are not confined to the Netherlands. In May I travelled to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, in preparation of the next Summit of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), which will take place in July. ASEM offers a unique platform for cooperation between the two regions of our Eurasian continent, for instance in the field of trade facilitation, cultural and student exchanges, global governance and regional crises. For me, it is also a great opportunity to meet personally with so many of my Asian colleagues. Because, all modernity’s attractions aside, in diplomacy, still nothing beats face-to-face contact!
Another classical, indispensable part of our work is the organization of incoming and outgoing visits of Heads of State and/or Government. This allows us to interact with a wide range of actors, including, of course, our colleagues from the Asian embassies here in The Hague. For the recent visit of President Joko Widodo, for instance, we were in close touch with many stakeholders: the Port of Rotterdam and Leiden University, Dutch companies, and the colleagues preparing the meetings with Prime Minister Rutte and the audience with His Majesty King Willem-Alexander. On such occasions old and new diplomacy come together in advancing the broad range of interests of our country and its inhabitants.
In sum, the Asia and Oceania department is trying to combine the classic virtues of bilateral diplomacy with the demands of a modern age, in which multiple stakeholders want to have a legitimate say in our foreign policy and where the digital revolution has created the need for multiple communication channels and a more flexible approach to when and where we do our work. But of course, I still look forward to meeting you at the next reception!Photography by
Photography by the Communications Department of MFA.
