PERFORMING EFFECTIVELY
IN MULTILATERAL CONFERENCES AND DIPLOMACY

 

 

Background

The United Nations and its related bodies, agencies and programmes convene thousands of formal and informal, and official and unofficial, meetings and conferences each year. Whether their purposes serve as a forum for deliberation and information sharing or a platform for negotiation, decision-making and standard-setting, conferences and meetings are undeniably important vehicles for multilateral diplomacy. Governments and, increasingly, other actors such as international and non-governmental organizations, use multilateral conferences as a means and sometimes the only means to achieve important policy objectives. As the number of conferences and meetings has risen considerably over the past twenty years, the number government officers and other stakeholders involved in conference processes has also increased significantly. While diplomats remain at the centre of diplomacy, government officers assigned to line ministries and agencies, as well as staff of intergovernmental organizations and NGOs, are increasingly finding themselves in the role of the multilateral conference delegate.