Foreign ministry eyeing training facility as future think tank

Taipei, Dec. 17 (CNA) The Ministry of Foreign Affairs' (MOFA) training facility for diplomats is now seeking to connect with global think tanks, hoping one day to become a world-class think tank itself, the facility's head said Tuesday.

Winston Chen (陳文儀), president of MOFA's Institute of Diplomacy and International Affairs (IDIA), said at a weekly briefing that the IDIA has been responsible for training new and mid-career diplomats and engaging in academic exchanges with other foreign service and policy research institutions since its founding.

The IDIA was inaugurated on Sept. 1, 2012, following the reorganization of the central government. It was originally established in January 1969 as the Foreign Service Training Institute before being renamed the Foreign Service Institute in May 1971.

After Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) took office on May 20, he gave the IDIA a new mission -- to turn itself into a leading international think tank, according to Chen.

Chen said Lin, who founded the Taipei-based Taiwan ThinkTank, asked the IDIA to engage more with local and international think tanks, particularly on issues of concern to Taiwan, including global conflicts, energy self-sufficiency and European integration.

In doing so, Lin hoped the IDIA can promote closer exchanges between think tank opinion leaders, experts and scholars, both at home and abroad, to pave the way for its evolution into a think tank, Chen said.

The IDIA has been holding seminars on topics of interest to Taiwan, Chen said, and MOFA's budget proposal for 2025 shows the IDIA working with more think tanks to organize other international conferences on global diplomatic issues in the coming year.

"We are hoping to achieve the goal set up by Minister Lin in stages," Chen said.

Though Chen and Lin have not directly commented on why there is a need for the think tank, the budget proposal indicated that it would be devoted to conducting research and offering insight on diplomatic issues to help set foreign policy.