H.E. Alexander Shulgin and Dr. Mayelinne De Lara. Launching Diplomat Magazine 2021-1 Pictures by Timur Seragetdinov.

By Roy Lie Atjam

The Hague, 5 August 2021- Scores of Ambassadors, diplomats and international agents gathered at the Leonardo Royal Hotel Den Haag to celebrate the launch of the 2021 –1 edition of Diplomat magazine.

Among the attendees were Ambassadors and diplomats from Malta, Argentina, Armenia, Greece, Russia, Vietnam, India, Tanzania, Uzbekistan, Burundi, Venezuela, Belarus, Bosnia & Herzegovina, the USA, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Guatemala, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Tanzania, Yemen, Panama, South Africa, Peru, Rwanda, just to mention a few. There were also representatives from various international institutions who were also on hand, such as IOM, IHE Delft as well as many others to join in the celebration of the occasion.

The cover of the 2021-1 edition of Diplomat Magazine featured the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin. The launch was a major post-corona event in diplomatic life in The Hague. It has certainly been a grand reunion of members of the diplomatic community. The evening also featured live entertainment provided by the Daniel Nicolas Jazz Band which all in attendance thoroughly enjoyed.

Dr Mayelinne De Lara, publisher of Diplomat magazine opened the evening by warmly welcoming the guests.

Dr. De Lara went on to thank President Putin for honouring Diplomat magazine with his stimulating article.

H.E. Mr Alexander Vasilievich Shulgin, the Russian Ambassador in the Netherlands delivered the keynote address. The Ambassador stressed on some noteworthy points from President Putin’s speech. Dr De Lara in her welcome address entitled “Reinventing Diplomacy” touched on the effects of the pandemic and expressed gratitude to the many contributors of this issue.

Here is Dr De Lara’s speech.

Excellencies, this is more than ever before, a real privilege to be here all together for the first time in a long time.  The pandemic gave the diplomatic community the opportunity to demonstrate its innate resilience and sense of duty. 

We have all the opportunity to discover new ways of living and working, other ways of moving ahead, new solutions and implementing new ideas.

“A new Covid diplomacy arrived and diplomacy in all, has been reinvented”. 

We wanted to see you all before summer vacations and celebrate with you the new issue of Diplomat Magazine but more importantly, celebrate your efforts authoring unique articles making the magazine a source of knowledge, more than a collection of social pictures. 

Special thanks to H. E. Philippe Couvreur, for his valuable work and dedication to the French part of the magazine

China, Serbia, and Russia are enforcing international cooperation and partnership. Greece, Costa Rica and Perú made special contributions celebrating their 200th anniversary. The Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Argentina and Paraguay talk about 30 years of Mercosur and the minister of New Zealand, and the ambassador of Croatia reflect on diplomacy from a pandemic perspective.  It is a solid content; impossible to mention each article, they are all unique. 

Thanks to the embassies of Croatia, Argentina, Uzbekistan and Russia for wine, vodka and caviar. Thanks to Leonardo Royal Hotel for organizing our events.

Special thanks to the embassies who help us to publish the inedit articles of six ministers of foreign affairs and the incredibly special contribution of the president of the Russian Federation, Mr. Vladimir Putin which is the cover page of the magazine. 

Dr De Lara was followed by the keynote speaker of the evening, the Russian Ambassador in the Netherlands H.E. Alexander Vasilievich  Shulgin who delivered a captivating discourse.

Speech by the Russian Ambassador H.E. Alexander Vasilievich Shulgin

Thank you so much that you have found an opportunity to visit our event. It has been quite some time since we’ve met in such a pleasant company. I do really hope that the worst – although necessary – days of quarantine are over and now we can see each other more frequently.

As you already know today’s evening is dedicated to July’s edition of the «Diplomat Magazine» which, adhering to the basic democratic principle of freedom of speech, has published an article by the Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Diplomat Magazine, adhering to the basic democratic principle of freedom of speech, has published an article by the Russian President Vladimir Putin BEING THE first time in THE COVER OF a Dutch magazine in a long time, explained Ambassador Shulgin

I salute you, Ms. De Lara, and your editors as well, for being so open-minded, because this is the first time in a long time that a Dutch magazine put President Putin picture on the cover.

This is not a secret – our two countries (or Russia and the Western world in general) are currently experiencing not the highest period in bilateral relations. Nevertheless, it is my deepest belief that we as nations share the same human principles as people all over the world.

We share centuries-long history – it was Peter the Great personal experience in the Netherlands that helped him to transform his home country. We share culture – we, Russians, love Van Gogh and Rembrandt, you, I believe, love Tchaikovsky and Tolstoy, we love Dutch football and you love Russian ballet. But most of all we all love our children and grandchildren very much and want them to live in a happy and safe world. Therefore, we have very much in common.

In his article “Being open despite the past” President Putin starts from the tragic pages of our history then draws a bridge toward current days and then lays out his vision of our future. His main audience is you, European people in general, those who we share the continent with, because our country is a part of this European “world”.

The President emphasizes the crucial part that the Soviet Union and Red Army had played in liberating Europe from the Nazis and saving it from enslavement, and also warns against modern attempts to rewrite the history and glorify Nazism.

The article is full of hope and faith that working together people of good will can help the world to avoid sliding into the nuclear Armageddon.

The essential part of success is to respect each other while finding solutions to the current challenges and threats. We have many topics of mutual interests such as security and strategic stability, healthcare and education, energy, culture and science, climate and environmental issues.

Ambassador Shulgin Pointed to the Article by Minister Lavrov

On a different note, Minister Lavrov in his article “The law, the rights and the rules” underlines the importance of adhering to the universal principals of international law with the UN Charter as its primary source, not the disruptive “rules-based” world order concept. “We will persist in promoting the emergence of an international relations culture based on the supreme values of justice and enabling all countries, large and small, to develop in peace and freedom”, says the Minister. Judging based on his unique years-long experience as the head of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs he offers the shortest way to our joint goal of peace and prosperity – sticking to the international law and the UN as the vital part and key element which the whole post-WWII world architecture was built upon.

I encourage you, ladies and gentlemen, to read the articles and think President Putin and Minister Lavrov ideas over. I am positive that we all have nothing to lose but a whole lot to gain if we intensify our cooperation.

To conclude, dear Ms. De Lara, I would like to present you this book named “On the fronts of diplomacy. 1941-1944”. It is a unique edition containing pictures and important historical documents on the work of Soviet and foreign diplomats during the Great Patriotic War.

Thanks to Leonardo Royal Hotel, thanks you for your attention and, please, enjoy your evening.

The evening was indeed an enjoyable and all the guests left the Leonardo Royal Hotel in high spirits.