Led by the Centre for Political and Diplomatic Studies in partnership with the Universities of Birmingham and Oxford, the programme includes a one week course on Public Diplomacy at Wilton Park in June, and a further course of EU studies in the autumn. The Wilton Park programme will include a seminar on the media coverage of the conflict in Yugoslavia, with major contributions from the FCO, the BBC, the Times, the Royal Institute of International Affairs and others. At Brussels on 1 June the European Commission opened its annual meeting of the Heads of Training from the Foreign Ministries of the Member States to include the Heads of Training from the eleven Applicant Countries. The group agree to continue the series in the future. This provides an important complement to the International Forum on Diplomatic Training for the heads of diplomatic academies and training institutions, the 27th meeting of which will be held at the Diplomatic Academy in Vienna on 20-24 September.
Interest grows in the development of distance learning materials for diplomats.
One new initiative will promote the development of materials for EU training programmes. Paul Meerts is currently trying to get a book off the ground, titled 'Negotiative Diplomacy'. This in contrast to Coercive Diplomacy which seems to be quite fashionable today. The book will, at first, be published in Dutch. The aim is to enlighten diplomats and civil servants on the main elements of negotiation as a tool in diplomacy, e.g. in the relations between states and 'state structures'.