Why we still need diplomats abroad after having them work from home during Covid

It was refreshing to see diplomatic events coming back to Manila as we eased our way into the minimal restrictions we now live with. Meetings among officials, interviews, and press conferences—most (if not all) are now done face-to-face. It’s starting to feel normal again after two long years in limbo.

Diplomacy did not really come to a standstill during the pandemic. It was interesting to see how diplomats were able to rise up to the challenge of continuing their work. International meetings that often required a delegation to travel for hours were moved online, decreasing the carbon footprint of diplomats all over the world. While some reveled in more time spent with family, it did get old pretty quick.

One crucial part of diplomacy was missing—human, in-person interaction.

“We can’t possibly keep going like this,” a female diplomat I met during one of the more minor lockdowns said. She arrived during the pandemic and she hadn’t met one single counterpart months into her posting. “I send them emails but we all know how effective that can be when it comes to building rapport.”

Back in 2018, the SWP or the Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik(German Institute for International and Security Affairs) came out with a study on 21st-century diplomacy. Even before the pandemic, the need for diplomats to look beyond the traditional way of things were done.

According to the study, “digitization must be employed in such a way that gains in efficiency are not at the expense of efficacy.” The pandemic forced diplomats to a level of digitization that left out one of the most important parts of the job—building rapport with governments.

The pandemic was hard for families too, especially those with children. The long closure of schools forced some families to cut their posting in Manila short. These families have applied for another posting thinking most establishments (including schools) will remain closed. For most embassies, their succeeding postings are determined about a year prior, giving them about six months to prepare for the move. Sadly, just as things have started to open up in the country and schools are slowly going back to face-to-face classes, they’ll have to move come June.

Rapport with locals is what makes a diplomat effective. If it’s just reporting what’s happening to a country where a diplomat is posted, it doesn’t really make much of a difference. Local news sites and even daily editions of broadsheets in one country can now be accessed from anywhere in the world. But it’s what diplomats see, hear, and the information they gather by being physically present in a country and getting to know its people and its quirks that make them valuable.

In a more digital world, the question of whether physical embassies are still needed often comes up. Should we still send diplomats abroad when things can be done online now? Everyone says it’s more cost-effective to invest in tech. Even the Caribbean country of Barbados has chosen to build an embassy in the metaverse.

‘It’s hard to build rapport over a Zoom meeting.’

“It’s hard to build rapport over a Zoom meeting,” another diplomat said over drinks at one of the in-person events that happened this year. “You can’t just chat up a random diplomat from another country and try to find common ground while staring at a screen. It feels weird.”

I’ve attended two pretty big events this year—so far. The national day events of Ireland and Bangladesh. On both occasions, I found myself sticking to the people I already knew, which is weird for a diplomatic reporter, I know. I had to remind myself to get out of the bubble a couple of times. Even came up to a couple of diplomats I hadn’t met before and the moment the word ‘journalist’ left my mouth, I swear some of them moved ever-so-slightly backward.

It wasn’t like this right before Covid. Diplomats were starting to see journalists as partners in public diplomacy, right? Was I delusional or did our relationship regress during the pandemic?

Part of diplomacy is small talk, something that a lot of people villify now. It’s also something that’s weird to do online. Chatting up a random person in the same meeting asking them where they’re from, what they do, if they have family with them or not… It does feel like a sad version of speed dating, not to mention awkward.

So thank goodness things are opening up and fingers crossed they stay that way. We can’t really predict how things will go but one thing’s for sure: learning to live with the virus is a must. Not just for diplomacy but for everyone’s sanity too.