Exhuming Lanka’s Foreign Relations

... And following late Lakshman Kadirgamar’s policy:

by Kalyananda Godage

The Foreign Ministry is being exhumed after ten disastrous years. We see Minister Mangala Samaraweera seeking to revive a half dead body.

Lakshman Kadirgamar

The first time that he was Foreign Minister, he appointed a committee chaired by M. D. D. Peiris, of which I was also a member, to study the staffing of our missions in relation to the work that they had been entrusted to do. Most unfortunately, the Minister resigned before our report could be implemented.

The Minister has now stated that he wishes to depoliticize the Foreign Service. He has sought to follow the policy of the late Lakshman Kadirgamar and appoint experienced Foreign Service officers to our missions abroad. Unfortunately he is constrained by the fact that we do not have the numbers, so he has been compelled to appoint outsiders too as heads of mission. Such persons MUST be given at least a short training.

Foreign policy

It was only during Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike’s time as PM and when Lakshman Kadirgamar was Minister that we actually had a ‘foreign policy’ and a credible administration and management of it. The last ten years was a disaster as far as foreign relations was concerned.

While Minister Samaraweera’s leadership is, indeed, a good beginning, it was also begun on the wrong foot, by the recall of all former heads of missions without doing so selectively - among those recalled are respected retired heads of our Armed Services who have rendered great service to this country in the Services and also as heads of missions.

An absurd recall is that of our High Commissioner in New Delhi who had his entire post graduate education in India, speaks Hindi and, above all, has friends who were his contemporaries and are now in high places, in the Indian administration. This recall is a foolish, nay stupid, act which is counter productive and not in the national interest. I wonder what would happen in the event of a ‘change’ after the Elections, since the All Party Parliamentary High Posts Committee has approved the new appointments. Would these new appointees be allowed to stay in their posts?

Diplomacy

Professional diplomacy along with foreign affairs management is an extremely specialized field. The authorities have only to note the quality of the foreign diplomats serving in Sri Lanka, which is, after all, not a very important country in our world of today. All countries take the management of their international relations seriously as can be seen by the professionalism of the foreign diplomats here. Professional diplomacy involves the conduct of our relations with foreign countries, international organizations, other international institutions, regional organizations, business corporations, regional and international NGOs, etc. It is not a mere PR job.

Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera

Today, besides bilateral diplomacy, there is multilateral diplomacy which is another specialized field. The scope and substance of diplomacy has enlarged to such an extent that it is most complex and challenging. The mind boggling advancement of communication technology only makes the task of the diplomat most demanding.

Besides international political relations, one would need to follow the international economic situation, the monetary and financial developments, promote educational and cultural exchanges, scientific and technological co-operation, promote trade, Investment and tourism and, above all, in our specific situation, keep a tab on the activities of non-resident Sri Lankans abroad who yet remain supporters of Eelam. Reporting on matters relating to national security is absolutely vital. We also need to care for our expatriate workers in some countries.

This wide range of activities (the expansion is both qualitative and quantitative) of a state calls for a high level of specialization and training. Training is an absolute imperative. There is no such thing as a free lunch in this business anymore. I am firmly convinced that in the context of the country’s needs and interests we need to restructure our international relations framework.

The Foreign Ministry should be at the apex of the administration and, the Minister in charge of Foreign Affairs should also be designated a Deputy Prime Minister to enable him to have the power to coordinate government business. Our dependence on the external world is total – we cannot survive and develop without relating to the world outside and with institutions such as the World Bank and the IMF, whether we like them or not. Another stark fact is that these and other institutions are controlled by the US and, here too - whether we like the United States or not - they have the power in many respects to influence the development of our country.

Re-structuring

The Foreign Ministry, as it is structured today, does not meet the needs of our times. Our world has undergone and is undergoing a huge change. The globalization of the world economy, the revolution in information technology and the intrusion/extension of the tentacles of the United Nations and the international community into almost every area of human activity, from the environment and climatic change to human rights, women’s rights, population, outer space, coupled with easier international travel, and world leaders meeting at summit level on a regular basis, has made many 19th and 20th century Institutions obsolete.

The end of the Cold War and, with it, the general adoption of free market policies around the world has also contributed to the new situation, resulting in greater inter-dependence. Information, the life-blood of the Diplomat is immediately available electronically. This introduces new pressures from citizens on governments. The very nature of international business has indeed changed; new opportunities have now become available.

New structures need to be put in place to meet these new challenges. Old bureaucratic structures cannot meet the new challenges. As mentioned earlier, there are also new actors on the scene. ‘Multi-nationals’ operating without borders, some with budgets bigger than the national budgets of countries, supported by powerful governments exert tremendous influence on international relations. These ‘Multi-Nationals’ and NGOs, working in many fields, including Population, Environment, Climatic change, Human Rights and Women’s Rights, quite often set the agenda.

The ICRC, for instance, played what I would describe as a ‘curious diplomatic role’, during the conflict in Sri Lanka. There are also government agencies, which have become more important than the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Take an example from our own country. Defence considerations dictated a major change in our foreign policy, when we resumed relations with Israel. In today’s world, many other Government agencies, other than the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, are also involved in a country’s ‘Foreign Affairs'. It is for these reasons that I say that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Sri Lanka must be restructured and transformed into a coordinating Ministry and must be perched right at the top of the administrative pyramid or it should become the hub. It would have no other role in the emerging New World order – in which the ‘classical Foreign Ministry’ will soon become an irrelevant relic.

Devolution

I must hasten to flag the fact that what I am about to suggest in the context of Sri Lanka, relates to the present structure of governance. Real devolution of legislative and executive power would introduce many independent actors.

For example, each region or province exporting its own products or having 'relations' with multi-national corporates may wish to ignore the policies of the central government. This, of course, should not be permitted. It is always possible that diffusion of power would go hand in hand with confusion. But let us hope for the best.

Even if we fully implement the 13thAmendment, the Centre would, nevertheless, play a significant and crucial role in the management of our external relations. In this country we have the following agencies of government more ‘involved’ than others in our external relations: the ministries handling foreign affairs, trade, finance, defence, labour and industrial development, the Textile Quota Board, the Foreign Employment Bureau, Department of External Resources, Board of Investment, Export Development Board, Tourist Board, Tea Board, etc.

The situation today is that there is no coordination of the functions of these different agencies. These agencies invariably work in compartments and the different Ministries jealously guard their turf. This is a luxury we can ill afford. In the event of “devolution of power to the furthest possible extent” the Foreign ministry would have an even more critical role to play and would be required to coordinate the external relations aspect of the ‘business’ of the provincial councils.

Let us restructure the present Ministry of External Affaires and re-name it as ‘Ministry of External Relations & Economic Coordination’ and bring in the present Department of Commerce as an important department of the Ministry. This is because commerce goes with development, which is a prerequisite for the well being of our people. Let us also have the Ministry establish a special statutory relationship with the BOI.

I do hope that after he exhumes the Ministry from the depths to which it has sunk, the Minister will transform it to be the most important Ministry for the development of our country.

Kalyananda Godage, a retired senior diplomat, has advised successive governments on foreign relations strategy and institutional development. He can be reached at: