By Moses Nyirenda
Lilongwe, Mana: Egyptian Ambassador to Malawi, Hassan Shawky has said his government would help government of Malawi in establishing diplomatic academy.
He said the support aims at building capacity among Malawians who have interest in advancing their knowledge and understanding in the field of diplomacy and international relations.
The Ambassador made the remarks during the commemoration of the 69th of 23rd July Revolution of Egypt and 57th Anniversary of the Egyptian and Malawian Diplomatic Relations which was held in Lilongwe.
Shawky said the establishment of a diplomatic academy was part of the initiatives which the Egyptian Government has been doing in the country.
“The support is part of capacity building and training that Egypt has been assisting Malawian citizens for very long time.
“The idea of this diplomatic academy was provided by Malawi’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Eisenhower Mkaka. We discussed the idea and I reported what we discussed to the government of Egypt which considered the idea of this ambitious project,” he disclosed.
Shawky added that, currently the Egyptian Government has already started providing equipment to the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs that would be used in the forthcoming diplomatic school.
“Government of Egypt has already started providing Information Technology (IT) equipment to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that will be utilized in the diplomatic academy which is yet to be established in the country.
“Egypt is much willing to support Malawi with technical knowhow regarding the diplomatic academy, Egypt diplomatic academy has been functioning since 1954 and for this reason the Egyptian Government can definitely assist Malawi in this respect,” he said.
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Eisenhower Mkaka commended the Egyptian government for its gesture, saying that it would help to create career based diplomats in the country.
“I am commending the Egyptian government for its consideration to support us in establishing first ever diplomatic academy, for a long time in the country diplomats have been appointed because of political association and when the new administration comes in all diplomats are recalled.
“But this is different in the developed countries as they train their diplomats in the field of diplomacy and they do become career based diplomats and when the administration changes these people are not changed at all.
“We need to have the diplomatic academy as it would help us to have properly trained and career based diplomats which can present our country well and professionally,” he said.
