17 June 2011, Geneva, Switzerland. Recently MDP trained eleven Geneva based diplomats on Conference Diplomacy. The two day workshop “Introduction on Conference Diplomacy” is intended to familiarize junior diplomats with the world of conference diplomacy and help them overcome obstacles. And according to the participants that’s what it did: “I found all the answers I was looking for” one of the junior diplomats said after the training.

How to achieve a delegations objective

On the first day of their training the diplomats were introduced to the purpose and structure of multilateral conferences. MDP’s trainer, former Australian Ambassador Ronald Walker, emphasized the importance of informal consultations as a mean to achieve a delegations objective and showed the participants how to consult most effectively. A video analysis illustrated the most common consultation and negotiation tactics and demonstrated which strategies tend to be most successful.

How to succeed in negotiations

The second day focused on the process of decision making in international conferences. In a practical drafting exercise the diplomats were trained in the writing of UN resolutions and where the importance of their particular structure. Ambassador Walker also gave the participants an overview of the most important rules of procedure and explained how diplomats can use them to their own advantage. Through a final simulation exercises the junior diplomats then learnt how to make package deals with other parties and thereby succeed in negotiations.

For the first time the participants of the Conference Diplomacy workshop were handed MDP’s newest publication the “Manual for UN Delegates – Conference Process, Procedure and Negotiation” which covers all the aspects of the workshop and as the workshop itself intends to help newcomers to conference diplomacy get along in the multilateral working environment.