Negotiation: How to become a silent voice.

Hi interns,

"Negotiation: How to become a silent voice".My title may seem confusing but at the end of my post you’ll understand why. In the first week, it was clear I had some doubts of what Public Relations is and this made me remember of my nightmare of Public Relations Principles in my first year. Public Relations does not comprise only of press releases, media kits and interviews it also involves some of the different functions of your organization. After a tour, of the building and greeting from every personnel in the Ministry from the Secretary Of State in Foreign Affairs to the security guard at the gate, I was able to meet with everyone and learned about their different functions.

I had the chance to meet up with the Principal Secretary Mr. Maurice Loustau-Lalanne also whereby he informed me on how the Ministry works that it was multi-functional thus I would be faced with doing different tasks outside my comfort zone. By the next day, I was advised to attend a negotiation meeting by the Minister’s Special advisor Mr. Phillipe Michaud and also the Chairperson of the Seychelles Fishing Authority (SFA) whereby it was a negotiation meeting between Seychelles and Mauritius on a fishing agreement. The agreement was first signed in 1995 and the meeting was to discuss on the new terms and conditions that both parties wanted to include in the new agreement as the old one will be expiring soon.

To be honest, my heart was thumping as I was left on the sidewalks in front of the Seychelles Fishing Authority building clutching my bag and my purse, alone. I had to do this, as I stepped in and asked the receptionist for the press conference. However, the meeting was also attended by some of the Foreign Affairs personnel one representing the legal jurisdiction, an economist and also a desk officer for the regional integration. The Mauritian delegation was led by Mrs Mylavadee Mudallar, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Ocean Economy, Marine Resources,Fisheries, Shipping and Outer Islands and the Seychelles delegation by Mr. Michaud. I had to note down some of the points and concerns in the meeting as I had to write a press release later during the day and brief the Press Attaché about the meeting. It was an amazing experience hopefully will be learning more. Hence this is the reason behind my blog post title, because even though I was present during the discussions I was not able to participate adding my views or ask questions. However, I will be writing about the negotiation meeting and in a way being a silent voice to the other stakeholders outside the room. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ press releases are published on their website. You can have a look… on http://www.mfa.gov.sc/. P.S: as an intern I draft the press releases which is later on corrected, refined and published by the Press Attachѐ so these press releases are not completely written by me.

Lesson of the day: Grasp every opportunity to learn, to discover.

Stephanie. V