On the afternoon of November 9th, 2018, Department of English and International Studies (DEIS) of CFAU invited Dr. Jovan Kurbalija, Executive Director and Co-Lead at the United Nations Secretary General’s High-level Panel on Digital Cooperation, to give a speech on “Whether Internet Development Would Make Traditional Diplomacy Outdated”. Prof. Yi Shi, Dean of DEIS, hosted this lecture and students and professors from different departments attended this lecture at the library lecture hall on Shahe campus.
As the Founding Director of DiploFoundation, the Head of the Geneva Internet Platform and former diplomat, Dr. Jovan Kurbalija has a professional and academic background in international law, diplomacy, and information technology. In this July, Pro. Jovan Kurbalija is appointed as Executive Director and Co-Lead at the United Nations Secretary General’s High-level Panel on Digital Cooperation.
During his address, Prof. Jovan analyzed the impact on diplomacy and international relations of digital development from three perspectives: new geo-political landscape and geo-economic environment, new digital topics in diplomatic agenda (such as cybersecurity, data flow and e-commerce) and new diplomatic tool (such as social media, big data and artificial intelligence). Prof. Jovan emphasized that future diplomats would inevitably come across cyber topics and he suggested that students of CFAU should expose themselves to these topics when they strived to complete schoolwork. He also pointed out the significance of traditional Chinese culture in handling cyber issues. After the lecture, Prof. Jovan communicated with the students on moral concerns of AI, traditional diplomacy and other subjects that students found interested in.
