Today's Edition
KHALED AL KHAWALDEH (ABU DHABI)
The Anwar Gargash Diplomatic Academy (AGDA) in Abu Dhabi on Monday launched a new postgraduate programme during its annual Orientation event for new students.
Nickolay Mladenov, Director-General of AGDA, said the latest course would add to the academy's extensive curriculum, which is aimed at nurturing the next generation of UAE diplomats with the country's unique diplomatic philosophy.
"I think the UAE's diplomacy reflects very much the uniqueness of the country itself, not just the federal nature of the country, but this approach towards consensus, which is very much at the heart of Emirati culture," Mladenov told Aletihad on Monday.
"This includes tolerance, certainly, but also the ability to not just survive, but to thrive in an environment that is complicated and that requires a lot of diplomacy. It requires the ability to have relations with all countries, and not just all countries around the world, but with countries that you may not necessarily agree with, to be able to focus on finding new opportunities for economic growth, to be welcoming to different cultures and different ideologies without losing your own culture and your own identity, and really to be a bridge builder."
AGDA, formerly the Emirates Diplomatic Academy, is an autonomous federal diplomatic research and civil service training academy that has for the last nine years partnered with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to develop the next generation of talent to take up ambassadorial and diplomatic roles representing the country.
The new master's degree adds to the already growing number of courses on offer at the institution.
Students will be expected to take on a range of practical and theoretical courses during the year that will see them tackle the toughest global issues today, including climate change, technological disruption, conflict and economic fragmentation.
"The UAE is ultimately a very small country, indeed a very rich country, but also a country that is able to bring others who may disagree around the table, ensure confidentiality, ensure due process, and work slowly and methodologically to achieve agreement for the future," Mladenov said.
"The best last examples of this are COP28 which was a huge success precisely because of this ability to bridge differences, and the UAE presence in the Security Council, which also came at a critical point."
