Verbal vs written --- Interesting point Catherine, and let us not forget that the value of any agreement depends on the determination of the parties to respect it! I spent 10 years negotiating access to security detainees in Myanmar, it ended with a handshake in 1999 and the agreement lasted until my interlcutor was placed under house arrests (several years later)! In another Asian country, it took 3 years to negotiate a written agreement on the same topic, and it was not respected almost immediately. Such is the life of a HDiplomat !!

Source author: Jean-Michel Monod jmmonod@yahoo.com