About 30 entry-level specialists of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry for Foreign Economic Relations, Investments and Trade, Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Academy of State and Public Construction, Center for Political Studies and Master`s students of the UWED attended the course.

The training module included theoretical and practical sessions on the basics of public diplomacy, techniques of conducting the elements of global communication, soft power concepts, advanced methods of development and planning of effective public diplomacy strategy, outreach efforts to foreign public, press visits, digital news monitoring tools, print media as well as contemporary challenges of nation branding and favorable image projection of a state in the international arena.

The training highlighted that new information technologies triggered fundamental changes in the nature of power in world politics. IT revolution for the past decade introduced the new mediums of communicating the messages beyond the countries` realms, power is transferred overwhelmingly to non-state actors multiplying the ways in which governments and people interact. In this multifaceted environment managing national reputation and ability to impact on others` behavior to get the expected results is a huge task and requires out-of-box thinking approaches and a long-term vision.

The feedback from the participants showed that they welcomed the training course and emphasized that its content was rich with a lot of interesting and thought-provoking examples on the role of mass media in public diplomacy. Case illustrations and role-playing exercises exposed the attendees to the complex nature of real world problems and policy choices that contemporary diplomats routinely encounter.

Railya Bekbaeva, UWED Master of International Affairs Candidate commented that “especially group presentations and hands-on exercises enabled them to strengthen their basic knowledge on techniques of negotiations with the national and foreign media, the ways of promoting a positive image of a nation abroad and proactive ways of news trend management in a global information space”.

The training sessions have been conducted with the participation of international consultant on communications and public relations Ms. Ehtel Halliste. While expressing a great pleasure with this young and enthusiastic audience she has opined that “in our globalized and highly competitive world, where every country has to outstand and differ from others, it is hard to overestimate the importance of public diplomacy. Public diplomacy is rapidly developing and very creative area that at the same time needs a lot of practical knowledge. You can read all the books and study many cases, but in the end - you have to find out what works for you and your country through practical experience”.

One of the components of the joint UNDP-MFA project aims to develop public diplomacy capacities among career diplomats to effectively implement the country`s foreign policy. Training of civil servants contributes to human resource development for efficient governance and raises awareness among a new generation of civil servants on the contemporary analytical tools of public diplomacy and global communications.