Former Assistant Director of the Foreign Service Institute (FSI) and current Chief Executive of IdeaCorp, Dr. Emmanuel C. Lallana, delivered a lecture on E-Diplomacy before the 24 junior Foreign Service Officers (FSO) last October 4, 2014.

The lecture was conducted at the FSI Training Room A520 and a video conference was set up to accommodate online participants.

It was attended by 2 employees from the DFA home office and 11 personnel from different Philippine embassies and consulates in Kuala Lumpur, Sydney, Canberra, Tokyo, Manado, Osaka, Singapore, Seoul, Islamabad, Guangzhou, and Shanghai.

E-Diplomacy is a course under the Module on Diplomacy of the six-month FSO Cadetship Course Batch XXI.

Dr. Lallana encouraged the FSO Cadets to be fully committed to adopting technological innovations to better champion the interest of the country and its nationals abroad. He emphasized how E-Diplomacy, defined as the use of the internet and new information communication technologies to help achieve diplomatic and consular objectives, has dramatically changed the way international relations is being conducted all over the world.

He also advocated the institutionalization of an interoperability network that will enable different government agencies to link data for a more efficient mode of delivering services to the people. He believes that the government should use the country’s expertise in the call center industry by establishing a single contact center for overseas Filipinos which can provide response and assistance in real time.

IdeaCorp, where he currently works, is an independent non-profit organization focused on the use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in transforming society.