SELA opens registration for second Training Courses on Cyberdiplomacy and Techplomacy

The Permanent Secretariat of the Latin American and Caribbean Economic System (SELA) has opened registration for the second Training Courses on Cyberdiplomacy and Techplomacy, to be held from 21 to 24 March and aimed at civil servants, diplomats or international negotiators, as well as academics and specialists in the field of international relations.

The Permanent Secretariat of SELA deems it advisable for Latin American and Caribbean countries to incorporate techno-diplomacy into their foreign policy agendas and to consider technology and Internet companies as geopolitical actors. In this context, traditional diplomacy must develop a more strategic approach as new companies emerge in a wide range of countries and regions whose technology will be increasingly linked to geopolitical competition.

SELA is organizing this training jointly with the European Institute for International Studies (IEEI) and the Institute for European Studies and Human Rights at the Pontifical University of Salamanca (UPSA), in order to generate opportunities for taking advantage of digital technologies in favour of regional integration and to design strategies that support the formulation of public policies for technological development in the countries of the region.

The Training Courses on Cyberdiplomacy and Techplomacy are part of SELA's Work Programme for 2022-2026, with the purpose of strengthening the existing relationship between diplomacy and technology by providing officials of the Foreign Ministries, related ministries and representatives of the academic sector of the member countries with training in which they acquire sufficient expertise for an effective relationship with technological actors, the implications of cryptocurrencies in the international financial system, as well as the necessary training for future negotiations to establish rules that regulate the subject. 

Participants are expected to develop negotiating skills with a better understanding of technological developments at the international level to promote the region's interests in the digital age, as well as strengthen the capacity to analyse the different agendas in an international cyber community that is not free of relations and conflicts among states. 

The specialisation courses on Cyberdiplomacy and Techplomacy will be held from 21 to 24 March 2022.  Each course will last 8 academic hours (4 hours per day) and will be taught online by professors Mario Torres Jarrin, director of the Institute for European Studies and Human Rights at the Pontifical University of Salamanca (UPSA), and Shaun Riordan, professor at the European Institute for International Studies (IEEI). 

For registration and further details, please contact SELA's Directorate of Relations for Integration and Cooperation at +58 212 955-7111 / 955-71 or email sduran@sela.org.