Digital issues --- That's a good question, Matshedisa. When it comes to taxation, the decision of some countries to impose an unilateral digital services tax has mobilised high-raking diplomats trying to calm the spat that happened, for example, between the US and France. Recently, an agreement on international taxation was reached under the OECD/G20, so we can expect a bit less controversy in this area. When it comes to other digital issues, the approach to deal with them in the international arena varies a lot. While MFAs are responsible for a wide range of issues, there is involvement from many other governmental branches, from telecommunications regulators to national security and the military. Since the 'digital' aspect is increasingly important to the economy, I believe it would be very hard for embassies to steer away from digital issues entirely. At the very least, they increasingly manage their own online presence and communication - many of them have social media profiles, for example.

Source author: Marília Maciel MariliaM@diplomacy.edu