Enhancing Myanmar-Russia Public Diplomacy: Challenges and Opportunities

Excellencies,
Distinguished Guests,
Head of the Russian Delegation and the Delegates
Ladies and Gentlemen,

A Very Good Evening and Mingalarbar to you all.

It is my pleasure and a great honour to be here today in this event with the purpose of “Russia-Myanmar: Expanding opportunities on Education and Science” which signifies the importance of strengthening Russia-Myanmar relations. To deepen friendship and understanding among peoples of the countries, may I take this opportunity to present about “Enhancing Myanmar-Russia Public Diplomacy: Challenges and Opportunities.”

Public Diplomacy is a new and expanding field that facilitate development of value chains. It is the public interactive dimension of diplomacy, a mechanism through which nations foster mutual trust and productive relationship and it has become crucial to building a secure global environment. There is no single agreed-upon definition of the term. As the international order has changed over the 20th century so has the practice of public diplomacy. Its practitioners use a variety of instruments and methods ranging from personal contact and educational exchanges. It has emerged as a significant style of diplomacy. In International Relations a model of soft power is an attractive way of exercising power.

The 21^st Century Public Diplomacy goes beyond bilateral and multilateral diplomacy and construct and conduct relations in the new global actors. It has shown that public diplomacy is an important part of a country’s international strategy. There are many uncertainties arising in our international arena. Amid such unpredictable events, there is a growing attention and emphasis on the importance of enhancing Myanmar- Russia Public Diplomacy.

Myanmar and Russia need to explore the possibilities of building blocks that would pave the way of coherent development. There are prospects for cooperation in various fields and immerse opportunities to build cross-border value chains between Myanmar and Russia through Public Diplomacy, Cultural Diplomacy and Multilateral Diplomacy. We learnt that multi-tier, multi-pillar, all-dimensional network of cooperation have been emerging.

With the process of Public Diplomacy, Myanmar and Russia can use education as a form of soft power to increase people to people connectivity which is a good opportunity to invest in building human capital. The road to prosperity requires building up the region’s human resource assets. It is important that natural resource capital is channeled into its biggest earnings potentials – human Capital. These natural resources are time bound whereas human capital is a renewable resource. Investment in education and training in marketable skills will benefit in the long run and is therefore necessary and vital.

There are queries whether education can really become a regional, international weld and a bridge builder. To answer this, we can take the multi-track diplomacy which is vital in building bridges, creating the necessary human resources infrastructure. Education is a multi-faceted bond, a strong bond that provides a common interest for Myanmar and Russia to cooperate closely and productively with each other and bring peoples together.

Social dimensions of the community are vital and need not forget people-to-people exchanges, the real issues that matter most of the people, their livelihood, the real security of the human. Myanmar and Russia need to bring peoples together, to get to know each other more to accommodate and appreciate each other’s socio-cultural more and the importance of people-to-people ties which cannot be overestimated.

People-to-people contact is the only way of helping people to enhance better understanding and mutual trust, pave the way for collective wisdom, will and capacity to manage differences and diversities, as well as mutual beneficial cooperation. It is the spirit of peoples’ interactions and understandings which shape up the ideas, thoughts and responses. Without the involvement of human factors, no projects and programmes, however, beneficial they may be, are likely to succeed. What we see is Trade and Investment cannot take place without the service of the people.

In this event with the purpose of Russia-Myanmar expanding educational horizons and since we are having the opportunity to meet Vice Rectors, Heads of the Departments from various Universities of Russia, and Russian experts from the academic communities allow me to emphasize that to open up new and broader space for public diplomacy we can actualized academic interactions by establishing a network for higher education with Universities of Myanmar and Universities of Russia as well as ASEAN University Network and beyond. Universities can be regarded as tools of soft power, the capacity to influence others without coercion as imposition, through attraction. We need to have programmes for educational exchange programmes for scholars and students, language training, discourse development through dialogue and education cultural events and exchanges. There is a need to create outreach opportunities both within and between states. There can be short-term exchange programmes for young students as well as teachers and professors. Programmes for trips, summer camps, home stay as well as semester length exchanges between various education institutions should be made for better connectivity, openness and interaction.

One important and central aspect of a new public diplomacy is cultural diplomacy which can be defined as the exchanges of ideas, informations, art and their peoples to foster mutual understandings. Education and academic institutions are considered the backbone of cultural exchanges. Some recognized the importance of cultural diplomacy as an instrument for it fulfill the needs in a centralized way, a unified manner and provide the individuals a face to face meeting point with the target audience that can provide Myanmar’s and Russia’s Brands. There are many opportunities and foreseeable benefits for Myanmar and Russia. At the same time there are challenges but to overcome these challenges, we must realize the opportunities and transform challenges into opportunities on the basis of its public diplomacy mechanisms.

Despite initiatives being made, Public Diplomacy has some limitations. Public awareness on Public Diplomacy is low and does not understand its importance. Resources in manpower and budget are still quite small and many programmes are not well coordinated among multiple sectors. There are lacks of funding for Public Diplomacy awareness activities. Effective Public Diplomacy requires the understanding and cooperation of all elements of society by instilling in them an appreciation of culture diversity.

For the way forward, well formulated plans and objectives conceived can be identified to enhance the pace of social progress through collective cooperation and partnership, encourage dynamic collaboration and mutual assistance in social area with special emphasis on the matters strategizing common interest.

The more the future generations can get the chance to have an introduction to education at the highest level and most challenging possibilities and begin to have that education with knowledge about how to take an idea and take it from idea to the shelf and to a product, the more the world is going to change rapidly as a result.

Myanmar and Russia need to assess how connected they are with the peoples, and the attempts made to ensure such connectivity and closeness, what are the state of awareness, attitudes, understandings and commitments, how to bridge the gap, how to link hearts and open up the minds of the peoples, where is the conception of community between Myanmar and Russia. There is no such conception of community but we have Myanmar-Russia Friendship Association in Myanmar with a sense of community that really emerges when it becomes more integrated, more connected than realized and aware of. What has been built is to deliberate on areas of cooperation for mutual benefits.

In sum, although there are challenges and hurdles, Public Diplomacy is one of the soft power’s key to instruments and this was recognized in diplomatic practices long before the contemporary debate on Public Diplomacy. Public Diplomacy and its rich supply of soft power assets will equip it for a successful journey. Fine traditions of warm friendly close relations, especially with the process of Public Diplomacy which have prevailed between Myanmar and Russia in the past, right up to the present, be maintained in the future. But to conquer or to be conquered is the question we are left with to answer.

Thank you very much for your kind attention.

*********