Invitations and Visits

Any trainee diplomat knows that, in the arsenal of international diplomacy, invitations and visits are among the most favored tools for conveying signals and messages and highlighting the state of relations between two countries al a given time. The same applies to refusing invitations and refraining from visits to the other country. Extending an invitation has in itself an intrinsic value, whether the visit takes place or not. Putting off the date of a visit by one of the two countries after it has been set or manifesting an obvious desire to postpone the visit sine die sends dire omens. The character of the visit (official, semi-official, private), the intensity of the program, the list of meetings, the inclusion or non-inclusion of a meeting with the president or the prime minister, are important signals. The number of formal meals, the composition of the attending guests, the exchange of toasts and speeches, the media coverage, and a score of other small details speak for themselves and indicate what winds are blowing on the relations between the two countries.