Sectoral Orienteering: Diplomacy in a Digital Age

It is our pleasure to welcome you to the eighth annual “Sectoral Orienteering”; one of the flagship events organized by the Sectoral Education and Professional Development team.  This year’s event is taking place between 5 – 9 March, 2018 at the Çekmeköy Campus.

We bring together the leading names of the business world with our students in many different themes such as sectoral talks, panels, case studies, interview simulations, cultural and sporting events, technical visits, interviews and workshop studies.

As the department of International Relations, we are hosting a series of talks on the larger theme “politics in a digital age.” Our guest speaker on 6 March is retired diplomat, Mithat Rende. The event will be held in AB2 room 129 between 10:00 and 11:30.

Mithat Rende served as  Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Turkey to the OECD between 2013- 2016. He was elected as Chairman of the Executive Committee of the OECD and assumed this position as of 1 January 2015. Prior to his appointment to the OECD, Ambassador Rende held the position of Director General forMultilateral Economic Affairs responsible for energy, environment and global issues at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) in Ankara (2010-2013). During this period he was Turkey's Chief Climate Change Negotiator, the Turkish Point of Contact to the UN Panel of Inquiry established by the UN Secretary General on the Humanitarian Aid Convoy Incident, and member of the Turkish Nuclear Energy Commission. Mr. Rende was appointed as Turkey’s Ambassador to the State of Qatar between 2009-2013. Mithat Rende received his BA in Political Science and Economics from the Faculty of Political Science at the University of Ankara. He was accepted to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) with honors in 1982 and awarded the Young Diplomat’s Scholarship to study American Foreign Policy in Claremont Colleges, Ca, in 1983. He completed the NATO Defense College (Rome) in 1984 and the postgraduate program on Security and International Relations of the Royal College of Defense Studies (London) in 2000. His first overseas posting was as Deputy Commercial Counsellor at the Turkish Embassy in Damascus (1978-79) followed by his posting to the Turkish Embassy in Rome (1979-81). After graduating from the NATO Defense College he was posted to the Permanent Mission of Turkey to NATO in Brussels (1984-88). In 1988 he served in the Policy Planning Department MFA in Ankara and then was posted to Sophia, Bulgaria as First Secretary at the Turkish Embassy (1990 -1992). Subsequently he was posted to the Permanent Mission of Turkey to the Organization on Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in Vienna where he served as Counsellor until 1994. Mr. Rende served as Counsellor to the Turkish Embassy between 1996 to 2000. While in London, he also served as the Deputy Permanent Representative of Turkey to the International Maritime Organization (IMO) during which he dealt extensively with law of the sea  and the issues pertaining to the Turkish Straits. Ambassador Rende has chaired numerous meetings and working groups at international organizations including the Trade and Transit Group of the Energy Charter Treaty in Brussels (2005-2008). He has lectured on diplomacy and bilateral and multilateral negotiations at the MFA Diplomacy Academy and on conflict prevention and crisis management at Hacettepe University, Ankara. Mithat Rende has published  in various academic journals. He is invited  regularly to speak at universities, conferences and symposiums in and outside of Turkey. His areas of special interest include history, archeology, conflict resolution, Middle East politics, law of the sea, energy, water and climate change. He is particularly interested in promoting the culture of peace and tolerance. Ambassador RENDE speaks Turkish (native), English (fluent), Arabic (good), Italian (good) and French (intermediate). Mithat Rende was awarded the order of “Sash of Merit” by the State of Qatar. Ambassador Rende is married with two children.