As I was flying from Antalya to Istanbul at 06.15 this morning, I reflected on the recently concluded diplomacy meeting by Heads of State yesterday. The meeting was attended by His Majesty King Mswati III amongst many other world leaders.
This meeting could not have come at any other suitable and relevant time and season such as ours, wherein; global diplomacy has faltered and failed in many fronts than one. The raging wars between Ukraine and Russia, Israel and Hamas/Palestine, to mention but a few; are real and visible evidence of how global diplomacy has taken a knock – down.
In many parts of the world today, leaders have substituted the language of attaining and maintaining Peace through diplomacy with the language of war and obliteration. No doubt, the leaders that the converged here in Antalya, Turkeye, have infused a new hope within the international diplomatic relations framework.
The hope is that most leaders, especially from those who come from the developed world, will realize that not every global problem or challenge should be viewed from the nail and hammer perspective. Forinstance, it is the failure of diplomacy to terrorize other countries with the threats of war, isolation or sanctions.
This is diplomatic backwardness in today’s contemporary world. The real language should be engagement, persuasion and reciprocity. No doubt, the world is watching as to what positive impact the diplomacy forum that has just been concluded by our leaders here will have in future in terms of solving global problems and challenges.
