The forum is made up of 21 members rimming the Pacific Ocean who take turns as host each year - with hundreds of meetings during quarterly clusters of talks to promote free, fair and open trade in the region of 2.8 billion people.
The Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation, known as APEC, is a prime example after world leaders, diplomats, CEOs and support staff held all their meetings and summits virtually throughout 2021.
“The taboo has been broken,” Bjola says, “and hybrid diplomacy is here to stay.” Corneliu Bjola, a professor of diplomatic studies at the University of Oxford (Photo provided by Bjola) Now, Bjola says, most don’t want to go back to the age-old, pre-pandemic practices. So when travel came to a screeching halt as the pandemic spread in early 2020, the global diplomatic corps was at a loss.īut flexibility and compromise are key traits of a good diplomat, and within a year most had adapted and were recognizing the power of digital diplomacy with a hybrid approach including video meetings and conferences, says Corneliu Bjola, a professor of diplomatic studies at the University of Oxford who recently surveyed foreign-service workers around the globe. It’s a physical, face-to-face world for those representing their countries’ interests abroad. A diplomat’s life can be measured out in coffee cups and corridors.īefore the big handshake moments and global summits announcing international agreements, most of the work gets hashed out over informal coffee breaks or in hallways between meetings.
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