The Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Ramadan Mohammed Abdallah Goc, has called for the training of diplomats within South Sudan for them to understand the country’s interest.
Speaking during the award of certificates to junior diplomats following a three-month training on foreign policy in Juba on Tuesday, the minister called on the graduates to build partnerships with other countries in the interest of the people and the Government of South Sudan.
He called on the young diplomats to enroll in training to build their capacities to take over the leadership of the country in the future.
“Training is very important; some people think that after graduating from the university, everything is done. No; what you get from the university are the a, b, c and ds of life. There is a different training after graduation,” he said.
“Some people think that training is not important and once appointed a diplomat, you only think about the deployment outside the country. They start lobbying to go to New York, Kampala or Nairobi on their very first week,” he added.
The Minister called on the diplomats to learn from their counterparts in the foreign missions in South Sudan.
“You need to compare yourselves to the ambassadors of other countries who are here. Some have gone through trainings for so many years before being sent to South Sudan and their countries trust them,” he said
The minister said he did not support the training of diplomats outside the country because the syllabuses in other countries were designed to serve and safeguard the interest of those countries.
“Other professionals like medical doctors and engineers can be trained in the UK or Switzerland, but diplomats have to be trained here in their country,” he asserted,
The Undersecretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, John Samuel Bwogo, said they had graduated 123 diplomats and interns, noting that they would continue training more.