From November 18th to November 29th a group of mid-career diplomats from the ten ASEAN countries and the ASEAN secretariat visited Clingendael for a two week course on diplomacy and regional cooperation. 

Apart from lectures, the group also visited several of The Hague’s institutions like the Peace Palace and the International Criminal Court, where they had a chance to meet the President of the ICC. It has been a very fruitful course where participants both enhanced their knowledge and made a lot of new connections.

Regional integration and cooperation

In recent years, ASEAN member states have expressed the ambition to go much further in regional integration, envisioning an ASEAN Community which would include cooperation on security, economic, and socio-cultural issues. From piracy and human trafficking to environmental and development questions: ASEAN has a role to play in effectively responding to regional challenges. To enhance regional cooperation between ASEAN member states and the ASEAN secretariat, Diplomats from the ten ASEAN countries and the ASEAN secretariat followed a two week course at Clingendael, targeted at both increasing the knowledge about ASEAN regional issues as well as expanding the international network of the diplomats.

The course in a nutshell

At the core of this course stand lectures, country presentations, working visits to various (EU) Institutions and skills training seminars. Importantly, participants were not only encouraged to share their perspectives in classes, but also were provided with opportunities to network and strengthen social bonds, like the intercultural mixer with other groups visiting Clingendael. In the closing ceremony, there was nothing but praise for the hard working and very social 6th batch of ASEAN Diplomats visiting Clingendael. We at Clingendael are already looking forward to ASEAN 2014.