The practice of diplomacy increasingly involves handling not only differences in national cultures, but different organisational and professional cultures at the same time. This conference focussed on the increasingly important issue of communication between different organisational and professional cultures in diplomacy. Diplomats today function in an increasingly multilateral environment: more often than in the past they are required to interact with a multitude of international organisations, ranging from the UN down to specific interest lobby groups. Simultaneously, diplomats are more and more involved in communicating directly with the domestic public; again with a multitude of groups.
