To ensure that Ukraine always gets results, you and your key embassy staff must speak the same language – in every sense – as those who make decisions and can help. Our diplomatic service has a traditional, longstanding weakness: when it comes to every language other than English, we face a shortage of proficiency. Please develop systemic solutions capable of changing this. You must have a deep understanding of the values, holidays, and pain of the people in every country where you serve, understand their culture – and know their language.
Ambassadors also need to know more about what is happening in Ukraine and how. You need to visit Ukraine regularly, share in Ukraine’s life, and feel what Ukrainians are going through. Every Ukrainian ambassador must know what the front is like, what life is like in a frontline or border community, and what it is like to rebuild after attacks. Every ambassador must feel what it is like when air defense launchers are empty and the Russians are launching ballistic missile attacks.
With all of this in mind, replacements within the embassies must be selected and prepared more carefully. Those returning to Ukraine must be offered positions at a level that truly reflects their contribution to Ukraine’s shared result, the experience our people have here, and the experience an embassy staff member has gained in the country where they served. Otherwise, we risk losing experienced professionals from the diplomatic service – something we cannot afford.
From an address at the meeting of heads of Ukraine’s foreign diplomatic missions. (7/7)
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