"COVID-19 has shown us the limits of remote work: it is more difficult to build new relationships, foster collaboration among colleagues, pick up on unscheduled and informal communication, learn cultural information, and most of all, build trust.

Only diplomats can build personal relationships and trust, smell the winds of change, and be the first ones to identify risks, speak up for our country’s interests, and use good offices to broker solutions to difficult problems. COVID-19 may change diplomacy dramatically—by helping it re-focus on what is really important."

go to redefining diplomacy report