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Wednesday, Sep 15, 2004

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Implementation of foreign policy weak: Saran

By Our Diplomatic Correspondent

NEW DELHI, SEPT. 14. The "delivery system" must match the "weapon." The Foreign Secretary, Shyam Saran, said that while India's foreign policy (which he compared to a weapon) was good, implementation of that "policy" by the delivery system was "often very, very weak."

Speaking at a function to release a book, "The 21st Century Ambassador," by India's former Ambassador to Germany, Kishan S. Rana, today, Mr. Saran said that India needed to increase its capacity to "deliver effectively."

Diplomacy was no longer about keeping secrets. The world was in the information age and the source of authority today was the power to disseminate information. Admitting that a change in the mindset was quite difficult to bring about, he said that public diplomacy was becoming more important, with the "cloak and dagger bit" receding in importance.

Mr. Saran said he had once taken over as India's envoy to Mauritius from Mr. Rana and that Mr. Rana had left a "handing over note" for him. This tradition of leaving a note behind for the successor was rare and most Ambassadors had to re-invent the wheel and claim that the "predecessor" had not done any work.

`Effective diplomacy'

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Rana said "effective diplomacy" was not more expensive than ineffective diplomacy. An Ambassador today could be seen as a public service entrepreneur. For instance, the French Foreign Ministry's economic section and Thailand's consular services had been granted the ISO 9000 certification.

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