Andrea Smith: A masterclass in digital diplomacy

Andrea Smith talks to media representatives ahead of SOM 1.

Opinion

OPINION:

Being a diplomat is a lesson in flexibility and adapting to unknown challenges in inventive ways.

Covid-19 is by far the biggest lesson of my career. It took everything I knew about diplomacy and flipped it upside down.

The tradition of Apec revolves around physical meetings and the many informal conversations that happen on the sidelines. Diplomacy has, until Covid at least, placed great weight on handshakes and looking at your counterpart, eye to eye.

Yet, the reality of a fully virtual Apec 2021 set in not long after the world began to shut down. The concept of hosting an entirely virtual Apec year certainly attracted its sceptics, and that wasn't unjustified. We were embarking on an untested model of diplomacy, in the midst of the largest global health crisis and economic downturn in a generation.

We felt a sense of pressure to prove that New Zealand has what it takes to bring one of the world's largest diplomatic events online — and make it work.

It hasn't been a case of taking Apec meetings and adding a ".com", we needed to reimagine the way we do diplomacy. A 12-hour meeting via video call simply wouldn't work, and would be cruel by most people's standards. Apec in a virtual world pushed us to reinvent the agenda, rethink negotiating tactics, and find new ways to have all-important side-line chats.

Diplomacy through the webcam has unique challenges — including time zones. We are working with 11, from Moscow, to Beijing, to Washington DC. In an effort to show manaakitanga (hospitality), it often means some very unsociable hours for the New Zealand delegation.

Manaakitanga became a key part of Apec 2021, coupled with collective determination from around the region — it has all meant Apec has delivered substantial progress in 2021.

Each Apec host gets the opportunity to extend their culture and values throughout their host year. This was something we were adamant would continue for New Zealand's virtual year. This means the more than 8000 delegates at Apec 2021 have experienced music, videos and welcomes that are inherently Kiwi. The music has attracted particular attention as our team is constantly fielding requests for our Spotify playlist — featuring everything from Benee to Katchafire.

The unparalleled challenges we face with Covid resulted in a first for Apec.

New Zealand was able to break new ground and bring Apec Leaders together to meet on the world's most pressing issue, Covid-19. This was the first meeting of its kind in Apec's 32 year history.

Try to do the same in a normal Apec year and you'll be attempting the impossible. Physical leaders meetings involve motorcades, security posted on every corner and thousands of officials. In fact, the planning for a physical Apec in New Zealand had started a full four years before the wheels of any presidential jet was due to touch down in New Zealand.

After countless WhatsApp messages, more than 1000 hours on screen, and in excess of 8000 registered delegates, our biggest challenge is right around the corner — Apec Leaders' Week 2021.

We will be host to 21 world leaders, 42 ministers and hundreds of officials, while also putting on the Asia-Pacific's premier business event — the CEO Summit; a youth summit, and a meeting between business and Apec leaders. All in the space of one week.

Once Apec 2021 is complete, one question will remain: Does the future of diplomacy see more meetings from home, or do we need to dust off the passports again? The simple answer is both.

After nearly two years of navigating the world of virtual events and practicing digital diplomacy, it's hard to see a complete retreat to diplomacy of times gone by. Diplomacy is about choosing the right method to get the job done — and conducting diplomacy online has added a new tool to our toolkit.

But while there might no longer be an assumption we have to jump on a plane in order to get diplomacy done, in-person meetings will continue to play a key role.

As the world reopens we look forward to meeting each other face to face again.

However, I do hope that we consider the lessons we have learned from successfully delivering a year of digital diplomacy and bring them in to the way we do things in the future.

● Andrea Smith is Deputy-Secretary Apec 2021 — Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Apec by numbers

If you were to watch each meeting held so far in Apec 2021, back-to-back, it would be like watching the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy 98 times, with a cast of over 8500.

Apec — the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation — is made up of 21 economies, whose officials and leaders usually meet in person throughout the year. But New Zealand's blockbuster year of hosting is entirely virtual, and that's seen officials racking up the screen time. Between the year's first meeting on February 9 and the 303rd on October 26, there had been 900 hours of virtual meetings, or nearly 38 days straight. Not in that tally are the 100-plus test meetings, informal meetings and bilateral meetings on the periphery.

There have been meetings on food security, others involving the region's finance ministers and business leaders, and talks between trade ministers. A first-of-its-kind informal meeting between Apec leaders happened in July, which followed another that pioneered work around indigenous economies. Each involves a heavy contingent of officials and diplomats representing each economy.

From Russia to China, Papua New Guinea to Peru, these economies are spread across 11 time zones, at times spanning a 18-hour difference. Meetings are capped at three hours. And to prevent the burden of late-night meetings falling on a few economies, the start times alternate between 3pm and 11.59pm.

Some 8500 delegates have attended to register at least one meeting through the year, and more than 400 media from around the world have registered to cover related events.

But scheduling meetings needs careful choreography, especially when they're happening simultaneously and involving more than 100 people.

Up to nine meetings have happened in a day under Senior Officials' Meeting 3 (SOM 3), and six have been held at the same time during SOM 1 and SOM 2.

Senior Officials' Meetings are a big undertaking. They lay the ground work for ministers' meetings, track progress and are the forum where officials bring to life the declarations and directives from the region's leaders and ministers.

When SOM 3 wrapped in early September, nearly 100 meetings had taken place, involving 3707 attendees. Discussions ranged from Covid-19 recovery, trade, sustainability and digital inclusion. By the time Leaders Week wraps up the tally would have grown as officials, business, young people, Ministers and Leaders come together.

From a small control room heaving with monitors — and then from kitchen tables, sofas, and home offices during New Zealand's latest Covid lockdown — the Apec NZ delegate services team are the ones who make sure everyone was where they needed to be; no small feat when there are a lot of people on screen.

The team's busiest virtual meeting of the year happened during SOM 3, when 189 attendees took part in the second day of the SOM 3 plenary. Day one of the Plenary had 187 attendees. SOM 1's Plenary comes in third place with 165 attendees, closely followed by the highly successful Ministers' Responsible for Trade Meeting in June, when 164 people were on screen.