Ecuador ambassador attends ‘Reporting Diplomacy’ workshop

Ambassador of Ecuador to Nigeria, Leopoldo Rovayo, has taken part in a two-day workshop on reporting diplomacy organised by the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Abuja Council and Diplomatic Extra Magazine, at the China Chamber of Commerce in Abuja.
The theme was ‘Global Best Practice in Diplomatic Reporting’.
 
The Ambassador delivered a speech highlighting DIPLOMACY AND THE DIGITAL AGE. 
He commented on the rich history of the kings of the ancient kingdoms, where they sent their delegates to kingdoms to negotiate peace treaties, boundaries or to make alliances. He mentioned that the concept of modern diplomacy is linked to the birth of the national states in the XIX century in Europe, when Ambassadors were sent to represent their respective reigns and were recognized by the receptor reign.  
 
The Ambassador briefed the audience on the essence of Diplomacy which has not changed, with its main objective to protect, expand and explain the interests of a country and negotiate them through a Treaty, Agreement, Memoranda and Exchange of Reversal Notes. ‘We represent the State, as I said protect the interest of the State and of its nationals or citizens under the law and negotiation with the Government’.
 
Relating his experience as a diplomat, the ambassador said: “I remember when I entered into the diplomatic service in 1988. The Ministry gave us an old typewriter to write our exam.   That year, Diego Cordovez, a former high-ranking diplomat at the United Nations, who negotiated the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan, was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs by Mr. Rodrigo Borja, the elected President. “Cordovez began a modernisation programme to improve the quality of the work of the Foreign Service by the use of computers and an information system. 
“This was in the eighties when all human work was influenced by the Information and Communication Technologies. Diplomacy was not an exception”.
The Ambassador concluded by saying “Diplomacy needs to use social media to expand the knowledge of what diplomacy is for and to have more contact with the people, country where diplomats are accredited and their own people from the diaspora”.