Isaac Chikwekwere Lamba

Cultural Diplomacy & Cross-Cultural Understanding By H.E. Amb. Isaac Lamba (Ambassador of Malawi to Germany)

It is a critical role that Cultural Diplomacy plays in multilateral trade negotiations, as it is through Cultural Diplomacy that we come to understand each other. When we think of what strategies to employ in our development programs for example, [Cultural Diplomacy is important], as if you do not understand the potential partner in terms of their culture, their orientation, or their conception of economic development, then you are going to miss out. That is why when you want to establish trade partnerships, you need to understand their orientation regarding economic interaction and then you move on to synergize on the basis of that understanding. You know how people figure things out and where the dividing line can be, and all these things matter when you come to putting together agreements in International Relations.

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Through mutual respect and understanding, one group will know how to handle the other group, and they will be able to meet in the middle and enrich their association through this understanding.

- The Berlin International Economics Congress; Berlin 2012, Germany, March 2012