Foreign affairs needs a kickstart

 The Foreign Affairs Department, once the pride of the civil service, is in the doldrums and needs a kickstart, says our writer ANTHONY SIL  as veteran diplomat Bill Dihm takes charge as the new Foreign Affairs Secretary.

UNLIKE the late 1970s and 1980s, Papua New Guinea’s foreign service today leaves much to be desired in terms of management and capacity.

Since the 1990s, the Department Foreign Affairs & Trade (DFAT) has been incapacitated by political meddling.

A mix of cynicism, nepotism, idiosyncrasies and double-standards, has poisoned the department’s organisational structure, and restricted the practical scope of  its mandated function.

Over the years, the department has been moving at a snail’s pace and  absolved from operational weaknesses by the one-track views of successive  top managers and foreign ministers-cum-‘Big Men’.

Governments have come and gone with unfettered tolerance for selecting diplomats to major geopolitical locations based on political affiliations or “jobs for-the boys”, rather than on merit.

Foreign affairs ministers were often hamfisted on overseas travels that were not part of the department’s programme. Even other ministries and their advisors travelled overseas without proper coordination by the department.

International observers have occasionally criticised PNG ministers and their entourages for attending meetings unprepared and raising low-key  agendas.

Back home, citizens have not forgotten the recent scandals involving certain diplomats abroad. 

The Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs has become a shrinking violet. 

Issues of state foreign policy capability, foreign service management capacity and quality control have rarely been addressed.

Over the years, the trade function has been oscillating times between DFAT and the Department of Commerce & Industry (DCI). 

Even today, both departments are battling over the trade function. 

Trade negotiation involves power politics and treaties that are influenced by competing theories of sovereignty and security.

Trade creation or trade distortion within two competing trade regimes, namely the World Trade Organisation and regional free trade blocs, is an issue of national security.

It is only DFAT that has the mandate to negotiate treaties and do crises management. 

 All other departments in their pursuits at international forums must be limited by DFAT’s operational structure and diplomatic working culture.

Why is the government not addressing the above issue objectively under the Alotau            Accord?

The recent establishment of a Trade Commission by the government is duplicating the mandated function of DFAT.

DFAT has a trade division, a economic development cooperation division, and a political, security and treaties division. All these divisions have various branches dealing with all aspects of PNG interests.  

Thus the new commission will do nothing that has not been done, other than feeding off from the existing diplomatic framework. This will only relegate DFAT to being a mere rubber stamp. 

There is no clear foreign and trade policy direction or enabling framework to meet the long- and short-term objectives of the Strategic Development Policy 2030 and its variants. 

A new foreign policy was drafted during the Somare-led government era. However, foreign policy needs to be further fine-tuned and integrated with a trade policy and an aid policy. 

It’s a shame that DFAT has no permanent building. At present it is renting a floor in each of two separate buildings. 

The spaces in both offices are small. Not one or two, but several officers are without computers and work stations. The current Foreign Affairs Minister is operating from Parliament and his private office.     

The number of officers are not enough to share workloads and give quality output, and are often forced to hurdle over in their documentations of serious agendas to be presented at international forums.

Officers are overworked and paid under a salary structure that is comparatively much lower than those on equivalent grades in the rest of the public service.

Diplomats’ salaries and other benefits are embarrassingly low. They are paid at PNG’s middle-management public service standards. 

It defies logic and reason when the value of Kina does not have the buying power in developed and fast developing countries. 

At DFAT, many young officers have university degrees but lack the required personality and dynamism due to lack of proper foreign service training.  

Some have irrelevant degrees that even the occasional six weeks to three months foreign 

service training programs abroad through bilateral arrangements do not  give them a good grounding on theories of international relations and practices of diplomacy. 

On the other hand, those junior officers that try to be proactive in their work, are often discouraged by lack of access to internet for communication or research because of a shortage of workstations. 

It is not uncommon for officers to take buses and taxis at their own      expense, or even walk to attend line agency meetings because there are not enough vehicles.

The DFAT currently has no Corporate Plan. Management decisions are often reactionary to unfolding events and sporadic political signals rather than objective approaches.

It is abundantly clear from the above that DFAT needs much more attention than just changing  Secretaries. 

DFAT needs to exist under an organic law and enabling acts. Such an organic law is needed to properly define its mandated function and authority.

All issues accommodated in the framework of such an organic law should be further specified and     reinforced through enabling acts such as a Foreign Service Act, a Foreign Service Remuneration Act and a Foreign Service Trust Fund Act.

All enabling legislations need complementary policy and management framework. 

Issues to be addressed include :

Trade Function: The trade function should be clearly defined and permanently left alone as the traditional and mandated function of DFAT.   

Trade Commission: Abolish the Trade Commission because it serves nothing more than duplicating the function of DFAT.  The government should not reinvent the wheel, or shoot the messenger.

Foreign Policy: Fine-tune the newly-drafted foreign policy and align it with a trade policy and an aid policy.

Trade Policy: Formulate a Trade Policy to be compatible with the new foreign policy. This should be strategic in aligning PNG’s national interests to World Trade Organisation, Regional Preferential Trade regimes and bilateral arrangements on specific comparative advantages. 

Aid Policy: Currently there is talk of formulating an aid policy at the National Planning & Monitoring Department. 

This is a meaningful step forward, to complement the Prime Minister’s stand on foreign aid management.  DFAT should be mindful when fine-tuning foreign policy and    formulating a trade policy.

Foreign Investment Policy: There needs to be a foreign investment policy that can clearly define the conditions for foreign direct investments in PNG. For    example, foreign technology transfer should be an integral part of investor-state negotiation and agreement.

Foreign Service Training: The DFAT should liaise with University of PNG to establish a foreign service training programme. This can be done by identifying a sequence of relevant cross-disciplinary courses to be taken at postgraduate masters’ level. 

Restructure of Diplomatic Missions: PNG’s diplomatic missions abroad should be reviewed towards maximising limited resources.

Diplomats should be paid not less than K150,000 yearly. Pay them well and give them targets to meet or sack them under the principle of value for money diplomacy.

Restructure of DFAT: The DFAT needs urgent restructure. Officers need to be paid higher than all national government departments. 

The information technology sub-branch is currently part of the human resources branch. 

This should be changed where IT should be a division of its own within the DFAT. This is necessary to enhance communication, manage data and provide for wide range of services.

Moreover, there is a need for a Think-Tank division dedicated to do research, provide advice, review policies and do crises management.

 Housing Scheme: A committee should be established to integrate DFAT employees to the new housing scheme being put in place by the National Housing    Corporation and National Housing Estate. 

Foreign Affairs Building: DFAT needs a new building that must be sterile and of modern architectural design. It must be a landmark building to symbolise PNG’s sovereignty and national pride.

DFAT is the most important state institution. No state can exist,  prosper and guarantee the security and welfare of its citizens without international  relations.

The current Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Rimbink Pato is making an attempt to address the problems being faced by the department. 

The well-learned and experienced minister wants change but he cannot do much without a proactive approach from the middle and senior management of DFAT.

The Prime Minister is adamant that DFAT management wake up from its slumber and rigidity. 

Peter O’Neill has displayed great statesmanship in embodying PNG’s sovereign and national interests at various multilateral and bilateral forums.

However the momentum O’Neill has created will stall without empowering the DFAT.

The challenge now is for the DFAT officers from all divisions to start working on a programme that will improve the capacity of DFAT.

DFAT officers must rise up and address their in-house problems with intellectual resilience and eclectic approaches. 

• Anthony Sil has a BA in International Relations-Political Science, UPNG, a MA-Diplomacy at the Diplomatic Academy of London, Westminster University. Also professional       exposure at EU Headquarter and Nato Headquarter in Brussels and International Criminal Court at the Hague, Amsterdam, Netherlands. He has worked in the Constitutional Development Commission, Department of the Prime Minister and the NEC.