Last week, Prof. Fadi Comair Director of Energy, Environment and Water Research Center EEWRC of The Cyprus Institute, delivered his first Hydro-diplomacy course in Cyprus. The course was part of the Diplomatic Skills Course organized by the European Security and Defence College ESDC and the Cyprus Security and Defence Academy with the support of the European Commission, the Cyprus Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Romanian Embassy in Cyprus. The course was held from the 27^th to the 31^st of March 2023 in Larnaka.

 

There were more than fifty participants including high profile diplomats and security agents from Cyprus and all the European countries. The speakers and instructors were from Universities in Cyprus, Romania and Europe, in addition to UN Agencies and the Embassy of Romania and other European Embassies in Cyprus.

 

Prof. Comair had two major interventions the first was on Water Diplomacy while the second was on Hydro-diplomacy and the Water Energy Food Transboundary Nexus.

 

Prof. Comair introduced in his training session the Water Diplomacy concept and he elaborated in detail the three diplomacy processes; technical, institutional and political. He emphasized the importance of the technical process (including the Integrated Water Resources Management), as a perquisite for the success of the negotiation on transboundary water resources. Later on the second day, Prof. Comair presented successful and failed Water Diplomacy case studies from the EMME Region and Europe.

 

It was an opportunity to promote CyI as a center of excellence for water peace in the EMME Region through the Hydro-diplomacy Partnership Program HPP Initiative that was launched in 2022.

 

This intervention will pave the way for future collaboration between The Cyprus Institute and the Cyprus Security and Defence Academy, and it will enhance cooperation on educational and capacity building activities.