The fourth General Assembly (hereby “the Assembly”) of the Global Public Diplomacy Network (GPDNet) was held in Istanbul, Turkey under the auspices of the Yunus Emre Institute between 20 and 21 October, 2017.
The Assembly was chaired by Prof. Dr. Şeref ATEŞ, President of the Yunus Emre Institute.
The resolutions taken in the Assembly are as follows:
1- NEW MEMBERS:
Katara Cultural Village of Qatar was accepted as full member as of 21st October 2017 and the Lithuanian Language Institute of Lithuania and CADE of Mozambique were accepted as associate members as of 21st October 2017. The new members signed the Charter of the GPDNet as attached in Appendix A.
2- MANAGEMENT OF THE OFFICIAL WEBSITE:
The management of official website of Global Public Diplomacy Network (GPDNet) www.gpdnet.org was taken over by Yunus Emre Institute as the term president between 2016-2019. This authorization will be given over to the next term president member after the termination of Yunus Emre Institute’s presidency term.
3- TERMINATION OF MEMBERSHIP:
Member countries of GPDNet are expected to demonstrate an interest and join the events organized by GPDNet. With regard to General Assembly meetings, unless they have a specific agenda clashing with the assembly, the members which do not take part in the General Assembly for three consecutive years will be notified in written form by the Presidency. These members’ status of memberships will be discussed at the next General Assembly and final decision will be given.
4- PLACE AND DATE OF THE NEXT GENERAL ASSEMBLY:
5th General Assembly will take place in Turkey under the auspieces of the Yunus Emre Institute as the term president. Exact location and date of the 5th General Assembly is to be decided by Yunus Emre Institute and declared to members. Members are expected to return to this call within 30 days after receiving the invitation.
5- PUBLIC DIPLOMACY MAP FOR NEW MEMBERSHIPS:
Yunus Emre Institute will prepare a map of global public diplomacy institutions as a guideline for the identification of new members of GPDNet. This PD map will clarify the path the network shall follow in inviting and accepting new members. The term president is in charge of completing this task with the contribution of all other members.
6- PROJECT PROPOSALS:
Projects proposals which were discussed during the 4th General Assembly and the new project ideas which will be proposed by the members to be implemented in 2018 are to be sent by the term president via e-mail to all members. Any project proposal accepted by minimum of 3 members could be implemented.
7- PROMOTION of the GPDNET:
Promotional materials are to be produced in order to introduce GPDNet to wider audiences. These materials will include a video film with a specific concept which explains the story and aim of GPDNet. In this context, Yunus Emre Institute will develop a concept and assign an editor who can run such production. Other members can also undertake this duty as well. In addition to that, to increase the global visibility through conventional and digital media all institutions were advised to promote GPDNet in their own countries through various channels of communications.
