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Fidelis Munyoro Chief Reporter
Government is in the process of setting up the Zimbabwe Foreign Service Training Institute (ZFSTI), which is expected to provide world class diplomatic training to foreign affairs professionals in line with the changing global community.
Addressing journalists during a post-Cabinet briefing in Harare on Tuesday, Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister Monica Mutsvangwa said Government had approved a proposal by Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister Sibusiso Moyo for the creation of the ZFSTI.
“The Zimbabwe Foreign Services Training Institute will provide the training of professional foreign service corps capable of articulating and executing Zimbabwe’s foreign policy, while effectively managing the external environment and acting as a think-tank for Government,” she said.
Minister Moyo said the move to establish the Government think-tank was prompted by the realisation that foreign affairs personnel should be equipped with an inimitable combination of specialised expertise, operational skills and a wide-ranging capacity for innovation and visionary leadership to shape the country’s foreign policy and bring more investments into the country.
“Diplomacy is not a mundane kind of career,” he said.
“It is a career which has to be continuously reviewed. We have said now, for example, we are looking towards the issue of transactional diplomacy and we are saying this is where we are going.
“A diplomat at whatever level should be able to deal with issues of creating friendship, bringing in FDI into this country, which must be measurable, creating markets in the country in which he is accredited to and ensuring that a number of tourists come to this country.”
Minister Moyo said the institute will also be operating along similar lines with Britain’s Chatham House, to host critical discussions.
“We want to have our own Chatham House in Zimbabwe where we will bring together intellectuals and scholars to have their input into the making of the country’s foreign policy,” he said.
“We want to hear their opinion so that we can develop our foreign policy options.”
Minister Moyo said the institute would be the think-tank of the foreign policy options which Government will undertake.
Online Reporter