Cloud diplomacy: Consular access, demarche move online

At a time when “social distancing” and “work from home” have become the norm, South Block is making efforts to conduct “virtual” diplomacy in the absence of “face-to-face” meetings.

Besides virtual summits and phone calls, demarche, consular access and even presentation of credentials have moved to online platforms.

In early April, in the middle of the nationwide lockdown, when the government realised that hundreds of foreigners had been rounded up for attending the Tablighi Jamaat congregation in Delhi in March, many embassies reached out to the Ministry of External Affairs for “consular access” (a meeting between a diplomat and the foreign national facing charges). The MEA decided to grant virtual “consular access” via video conference.