Diplomatic Training and Challenges for Public Diplomacy with Sarala Fernando

The USC Center on Public Diplomacy was pleased to host, Sarala Fernando, Fulbright Professional Scholar (Fall 2011) from Sri Lanka.

Sarala Fernando presented her impressions on the challenges faced by developing countries with small cadres of diplomats and the support of public diplomacy initiatives. While, new directions in training have focussed on enhancing communication and presentation skills, leadership skills, negotiations, strategic analysis and intelligence gathering, they also need to reshape traditional models for promoting trade, investment and tourism. A primary objective of this new training needs to raise Sri Lanka's image abroad after the end of three decades of armed conflict.

Read the event synopsis below.

Currently she is the Director General at Bandaranaike International Diplomatic Training Institute, Colombo since 2008. Previously, she was with the Sri Lanka Foreign Service and retired in 2007 following Ambassadorial postings in Thailand (with concurrent accreditation to Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos), in Sweden (with concurrent accreditation to all the Nordic and Baltic countries) and as Ambassador/Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations and International Organizations in Geneva (with concurrent accreditation to the Holy See).

For more information about Sarala, please click here.

SYNOPSIS
Ambassador Fernando explained that Sri Lanka is a nation caught between two images. One is the external image of Sri Lanka as a country plagued by human rights violations since the end of its 30 year civil war in 2009. The other is that of a rapidly developing nation, which remains unseen in the international community. In order to promote Sri Lanka to the outside world and bridge the gap between these two images, its diplomats must highlight the fact that Sri Lanka, like its neighbor India, is an established democracy, has a diversified and independent press, and is engaged and focused on reconstructing the areas that were most affected by the conflict. Areas of the country previously affected by the conflict are now open. She explained the strategic interest of India, as the fourth largest energy consumer in the world, its access to Central Asia gas and oil, and its growing role in the Indian Ocean. Fernando also expressed optimism concerning South Asia’s real GDP growth rate, showing that the region has great economic potential. She closed her presentation with a slideshow of images from her latest book Sri Pada: Peak Heritage of Lanka, which consists of beautiful photographs of Adams Peak, a sacred mountain top refuge for Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims and Christians in Sri Lanka.