This year marks 85th anniversary of the Diplomatic Academy of the Russian Foreign Ministry - one of the leading educational institutions, specialized in training specialists in the field of international relations.
"The Diplomatic Academy was founded in 1934, and over these 85 years it trained over 30 thousand specialists in the field of international relations, international law and international economy. Of these 30 thousand, over 8 thousand became diplomats. Of these 8 thousand, around 800 people have reached highest level in their diplomatic career - received rank of Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador, ” Yevgeny Bazhanov, former rector the Diplomatic Academy, said.
"Some of our graduates have reached even greater heights. Valentina Matviyenko, head of the Russian Senate, was our graduate. Kassym-Zhomart Tokayev, who graduated in 1992, first became Deputy Foreign Minister of Kazakhstan, then Foreign Minister of Kazakhstan, then Prime Minister, then head of the Kazakh Senate, then deputy Secretary General of the UN, and he heads the Kazakh Senate again. Another example is South Korean citizen Kim Dae-jung, who graduated from the Diplomatic Academy and was elected president of South Korea, led his country at the beginning of 2000, and received Nobel Peace Prize for rapprochement with North Korea. Situation on the Korean Peninsula has improved significantly during his term. Many years of confrontation followed after that, since South Korea had another party in power, which was much more aggressive towards North Korea. Now Kim Dae Jung's party has returned, and we can see progress once again. Even relationship between North Korea and the United States has improved. Moreover, thanks to Kim Dae-jung, who gave such a good advertisement for our Academy, there are a lot of Koreans studying here now. 14 ambassadors of South Korea in different countries are our graduates," Bazhanov said.
"Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan, former and present Foreign Ministers of Moldova, former Foreign Minister of Kyrgyzstan, ambassadors of various countries have graduated from here. Even if you look at the Moscow diplomatic corps, 10-12 ambassadors are our graduates," Bazhanov noted.
Speaking about main directions of the Diplomatic Academy's work, acting rector Mikhail Troyansky said: “Every year up to 500 people pass the Diplomatic Academy's advanced training courses. All of this takes place as part of mandatory professional development program of of the Russian Foreign Ministry under civil service law. It's an essential part of career growth, since these courses allow people to qualify for promotion."
Mikhail Troyansky called the work of the Professional Retraining Center an important part of the Diplomatic Academy's work: “These courses are available for everyone - employees of presidential administration, ministries, various government departments, state corporations and businesses. Regional governors and representatives of international departments can also attend them. Topics concerning diplomatic etiquette, protocol and organization of negotiations are in demand."
According to him, another important direction of the Diplomatic Academy's work is teaching foreign diplomats at request of other counries' Foreign Ministries: "There are a lot of different requests. Right now we have requests from over 30 countries. Asian countries are widely represented, as well as countries of the Arab East, African countries. Teachers of the Diplomatic Academy work with foreign diplomats in various languages, including English, French, Spanish, Arabic and Turkish. Highly qualified mid-level and young diplomats come to us from Turkey and listened to our lectures with great interest. We hope that these exchanges will continue."
