Permanent Secretary of SELA: Cyberdiplomacy must be addressed as a State policy

“We must be aware that the use of cyberdiplomacy goes beyond the expansion of diplomatic networks at the digital level. It must be approached as a state policy with a definition of actors, objectives, and goals in the short and long term. Hence the relevance of developing skills to apply the use of digital tools for diplomatic purposes, and to act in preventing, addressing, and solving problems that take place in cyberspace,” the Permanent Secretary of the Latin American and Caribbean Economic System (SELA), Ambassador Clarems Endara, said.

The highest authority of SELA reflected on cyberspace and its growing importance in the foreign policy of nations during the opening of the Specialization Courses on Cyberdiplomacy and Digital Currency Diplomacy, which SELA held on Tuesday, jointly with the European Institute of International Studies (IEEI) and the Institute of European Studies and Human Rights of the Pontifical University of Salamanca (UPSA).

In this third edition of the Courses, the Permanent Secretary of SELA highlighted that the topic of digital currency diplomacy was included “with the aim of having a better understanding of the evolution of the cryptocurrency, which has become an exchange currency with little control by central banks, despite operating in a very high-risk speculative market. It is a reality that cryptocurrencies have positioned themselves in many countries as an alternative to traditional currencies and with the aim of offering investment opportunities and optimal business management based on digital money.”

These four-day virtual courses will address the recent problems and challenges facing states in cyberspace, the security and stability of which are factors that can easily affect the sovereignty and development interests of all countries. Problems such as cybercrime, unequal development, rules incompatible with the current reality and inequitable order in cyberspace, as well as the widening of the digital divide between countries and regions can become a threat.

For his part, the President of the IEEI, Ambassador Antonio Núñez, expressed his wish that these courses with SELA become a good opportunity to update knowledge on Cyberdiplomacy and Digital Currency Diplomacy.

The training, which will run until 14 April, will be given by Mario Torres Jarrin, Director of the Institute of European Studies and Human Rights at UPSA, and Shaun Riordan, Professor at the IEEI.

The diplomacy courses have been held in compliance with SELA's Work Programme for 2022-2026, which is aimed at promoting and stimulating digitalisation in order to achieve better economic and social results through digital inclusion in the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean.