The Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Relations with the Diplomatic Corps

Part 4

Ex1. Formulate questions from each paragraph. Ask your classmates to answer them.

Matters concerning the Diplomatic Corps in its entirety and the government of the state to which its members are accredited or assigned are dealt with by the senior head of mission (who is known as the Doyen) and the appropriate minister or chief of the Department of Protocol. The term ‘Doyen’ of the Corps Diplomatique might reasonably be transposed to ‘Dean of the Diplomatic Body’; but common usage among English speakers is ‘Dean of the Diplomatic Corps’.

In determining the appointment of the Dean or Doyen, the seniority of a head of mission is based on the length of time that he has continuously held his appointment at that post. In certain countries (usually predominantly Roman Catholic) the Apostolic Nuncio is always Dean; and the practice is not uncommon, especially in Latin America, for special provision to be made for Armed Services attachés by the appointment of protocol officers in the Ministry of Defense.

Ex.1 Summarize the content in brief. Use the following key words to guide your thinking:

1. entirety

2. Dean of the diplomatic body

3. Corps

4. seniority

5. predominantly

6. attachés

Ex.2 Insert the missing words without referring to the text:

The governments of all 1… include among their members one who is responsible for relations with other states and with international 2…. The extent of his personal responsibility and his 3… varies from country to country: Minister for Foreign Affairs, Secretary of State (USA), Secretary of State 4… Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (UK), etc. The Minister’s executive function is to implement the 5… policy of his 6… and to manage its international 7…. This he does with the help of the permanent 8… of his Ministry and the heads of his own missions 9… and through the 10… of the heads of foreign missions accredited to his state.

The composition of Ministries usually consists of the following 11…: Political Affairs; the United Nations; Other international and regional organizations; Legal; Protocol; Trade and economic relations; Cultural relations; Disarmament; Press and Information; Scientific; Personnel; Commodities; Consular relations; Administration, communication and security; Archives and library.

A Ministry of Foreign Affairs may in many instances relinquish immediate responsibility 12… other departments, but must always 13… responsible for background information, political advice, personal relationships and follow-up; and it must be in a position to step 14… and take action, or at least 15… recommendations.

To cope with this task the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has to maintain 16… both with its own mission and foreign missions. As for relations with its own mission the prime responsibility of a 17… of mission is to carry 18… the instructions of his Ministry and to report 19… to it the information that he is asked 20… provide. He is expected to use his initiative in recommending the 21… that he thinks his government should adopt. The relationship 22… Ministry and heads of mission is very much a matter of give and take.

The policy decisions are reached essentially within the Ministry and the task of the head of mission is mainly that 23…implementing 24….If policy – making is to be influenced strongly by the advice of the head of 25…, then the staff of the Ministry need be relatively few and the overseas posts may be strongly manned. The staff distribution policy will also determine the length of 26… that diplomats serve abroad compared with the 27… that they spend at home.

The head of the personnel department has one 28… the most important tasks in the Ministry, deciding whom to send where and for how 29…. A diplomat is subject to a wide variety of pressures in different posts abroad, and some can cope 30… particular circumstances 31… than others.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the channel 32… which all other representations should be made to a government by 33… state.

In practice, with the great increase in the scope and extent of international cooperation since the establishment of the United 34… and regional economic and political groupings, there has been a tendency 35… home government departments to assume even greater responsibility for international negotiations within their particular 36….

When a Minister for Foreign Affairs assumes office he writes to all the diplomatic 37… of foreign states and informs them accordingly, and, subsequently arranges for each 38… them to call on him or (in a large capital like London) for a reception at which he can meet them. When he relinquishes the post he also 39… them accordingly and gives them the name of his 40… and informs the diplomatic representatives of his own country abroad of such moves.

The head of diplomatic mission is the representative of 41… Head of State to another. Dealings of a routine matter are normally carried out between the head of mission or a member of the diplomatic 42… of the mission and the appropriate official in the 43… of Foreign Affairs. The head of mission has by custom and courtesy the right of 44… to the Minister for Foreign Affairs at any time in order to discuss matters of concern between the two countries.

A Minister for Foreign Affairs has two possible means of communications: 45… his country’s own diplomatic representative in the foreign country concerned; or 46… that country’s 47… to the Minister’s own government. Generally 48… a government makes formal approaches through its own representative abroad. Sometimes both are used at the same 49….

Ex.3 Translate into English:

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