Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has announced a search for ambassadors to 21 countries in Europe, Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, the South Caucasus, and Southeast Asia. For the first time in Ukraine's history, the Foreign Ministry has created an open mechanism that allows both diplomats from within the system and people from outside to propose their candidacy for the post of ambassador.
Kuleba announced this on Facebook. He noted that the only way to speed up the process of filling ambassadorial vacancies is through non-standard solutions.
"The corresponding page has already been created on the website of the Foreign Ministry in the Vacancies section. The expectation is that an open search among internal and external candidates will help avoid unacceptable situations when the ambassador's position in a particular country remains unfilled for several years," Kuleba said. Each candidate in whom the Foreign Ministry sees potential will undergo thorough security, reputation, communication and other checks.
"An open search for ambassadors is an opportunity for the system to expand its horizons, and an opportunity for worthy candidates to try themselves in places where they could only get through closed institutional mechanisms. For the first time in the history of Ukrainian diplomacy, I am opening the door so that everyone has equal opportunities to try to become a strong manager, which is so necessary for the state in the world," Kuleba emphasized.
A special focus is now on African countries. Applying for these countries automatically increases your chances. In addition, the ministry will give preference to women if they have equal professional performance.
"Simply because diplomacy has been unfair to women's career development for many decades," he said. China, India, and Brazil are not on the list of countries because Kuleba has already submitted ambassadorial nominations to these countries to the president of Ukraine.
"You will know their names after the relevant decrees are published. I will only say that we plan to send specialists with ministerial and deputy ministerial experience to these special countries," he added.