Customs and etiquette in Djibouti

Djibouti is a small country located in northeastern Africa. Islam is designated as the state religion. The vast majority of the residents are Muslims. Customs and habits have obvious Arab cultural influence.

The names of Djibouti people are very similar to those of North African Arabs. They are mostly composed of three sections. The first section is the person's name, the second section is the father's name, and the third section is the surname, such as "Hassan Guled Aptidon","Balkat Gulat Hamadou", etc. Different from the situation in other African countries, on formal occasions, Djibouti people are generally called their full names, especially in letters, texts, and letters. However, in daily social interactions, you can omit the other person's patronage and simply call the other person by his name, such as "Hassan Aptidon" and "Balkat Hamadou". In contrast to other African countries, persons of distinction, status and position in Djibouti are often referred to simply by their family name, combined with "Mr." and "Your Excellency," such as "Mr. Aptidon" and "His Excellency Hamadou." In the names of Djibouti people, there are often strong religious connotations, such as "Hassan"(meaning excellent, good),"Mahmoud"(meaning praised, praised),"Mohammed"(meaning borrowing from Islam. The name of the founder of the religion),"Alhaji"(meaning the title obtained after having made a pilgrimage to Mecca, the holy land of Islam), etc.

Djibouti people seem very enthusiastic when meeting foreign guests. Men usually greet them by shaking hands, while women often bow to their knees. If foreign guests are relatives, friends or high-status persons of Djibouti people, they often have to put a cheek gift, once on the left and right to express their welcome and respect. When good friends of the same sex meet, they first hug each other warmly, gently touch each other's cheeks left and right, then put their right hand on their chest, bow their heads, and say some words to express their heartfelt blessings to each other; When parting, they hug each other warmly again on the cheeks, and some even kiss each other affectionately on the lips. When friends of the opposite sex meet, no matter how close they are, they will just nod to each other, bow, and simply greet each other with a word or two. They pay great attention to their discretion and never show excessive closeness.

is warm and generous, very hospitable, and treats people sincerely. When local residents meet foreign guests once or twice, they will call them brothers and treat them as confidants. They will cordially invite them to their homes and invite the guests 'wives, children and friends to attend the party. At that time, the host will also invite some of his relatives and friends to accompany them and entertain them with a sumptuous banquet. After the guests and guests had enough food and drink, they enjoyed singing and dancing and made a lively scene. The host often sincerely wants to keep the guests to stay for a few days, and personally accompany them at home. Even if there is something urgent at hand, he will hide it from the guests. In Africa, Djibouti people have always been known for their hospitality. The more guests visit, the happier the host feels. The traditional custom of having more guests dominating the country is prevalent.

There are some customs and practices for Djibouti people to treat guests to dinner. Receive visits from official groups, conduct business negotiations, and banquets are generally arranged in hotels or restaurants. Only when exchanges between personal friends are purely invited to one's home and often treated with traditional local dishes. The traditional staple foods used by Djibouti to entertain guests include roasted corn, home-made cakes (dough cakes) made with sorghum paste and corn paste and milk, thick porridge made with sorghum rice, beans and melons, and various sweets; the dishes mainly include chicken, duck, fish, beef, mutton, vegetables, etc., and the famous dish of roasted whole sheep is indispensable to entertain distinguished guests. Chili peppers are popular among men, women and children in Djibouti. Every household has good peppers all year round. When entertaining guests, a can of chili gravy is always placed on the dining table. This chili gravy is refined from high-quality peppers, spices, sugar, beef or mutton. It is moderately sweet and spicy, and has a unique flavor. Tear off a piece of cake, dip it in chili gravy, and wrap it with meat. It has sweet, salty and spicy food, full of color, aroma, and appetite. Of course, guests can choose whether to eat chili juice based on their hobbies. The owner will never force it. As long as the more guests eat during the meal, the happier the owner will be.

Djibouti people have always been known for being good at doing business, and are also very proficient in business negotiations. They can both bargain and compromise. Therefore, mastering superb negotiation techniques and making good use of flexible negotiation art is of great significance to those who come to Djibouti to open up markets.

When conducting economic and trade negotiations with Djibouti people on the website, the following points should be noted first: First, the principle of reciprocity Before conducting business negotiations with Djibouti businessmen, we must first understand the other party's business scope, economic strength, credibility, etc. If there is a huge gap between one side and the other side, it is generally difficult to achieve the expected goals during the negotiation process; If your strength is equal to or even exceeds the other party's, you can negotiate with the other party with confidence.

2. The spirit of reciprocity In business negotiations, people are obsessed with defeating their opponents, trying their best to meet their own requirements, and obtaining the greatest economic benefits. However, when negotiating with Djibouti, if they hold this mentality, it will often lead to the failure of the negotiation. The principle that the results of the negotiation will bring benefits and benefits to both parties should be based on the principle that both parties in the negotiation should eventually become winners.

3. The strategy of compromise When conducting business negotiations with Djibouti people, ideas and practices such as "I win, you lose" and "persistence is success." We should adopt certain concessions and compromises without harming fundamental interests, and finally reach an agreement acceptable to both parties.

If business negotiations with Djibouti people are to be successful, attention must be paid to selecting high-quality negotiators, selecting appropriate negotiation time and extensively collecting relevant information. The personal qualities of the people participating in the negotiation are the key to the success of the negotiation. The character of a negotiator should have an extroverted character that is easy to communicate feelings with others. His speech should be humorous, his reaction should be witty, his attitude should be enthusiastic, he should be moderate in doing things, and he should be patient when encountering difficulties during the negotiation process. He must have keen insight and resourceful adaptability, even the details of a key issue must be aware of and take corresponding countermeasures; When a stalemate occurs in negotiations, negotiators must have good patience, be impatient and fidgety, which will definitely lead to failure in negotiations or suffer losses. They must have the courage to strive for success and not be afraid of failure. Success requires paying a certain price, but whether it is worthwhile to pay the price and whether a relatively satisfactory result can be achieved after paying it must be well known during the negotiation process; Negotiation is a science and an art. If negotiators want to succeed, they must have theories, skills, principles, methods related to negotiation, as well as relevant political science, philosophy, economics, history, law, psychology, behavioral science, knowledge of public relations, operations research, etiquette, etc. Only then can they control the negotiation process and achieve success in negotiations.

The choice of negotiation time is also crucial to success. Avoid negotiating with the other party when they are busy with activities; do not choose to negotiate with them on weekends; do not choose to negotiate with them when the other party is unwell; try to understand the other party's final negotiation deadline and try to keep your own final negotiation deadline. Don't reveal your negotiation secrets just because the other party is warm and thoughtful. Be good at grasping the opportunity when throwing a deadline can turn a serious confrontation around; When the bottom line of prices is revealed, you must be good at choosing the best time, because if you sell it too early, you will suffer losses, and if you sell it too late, you will lose the opportunity to achieve success.

Mastering purposeful, accurate, timely, comprehensive and systematic information before negotiating is also an indispensable factor for successful negotiation. At least the following pieces of information should be grasped: the legitimacy, economic strength and attitude of the other party's company towards the business being discussed; whether the negotiating party is a decision-maker, his status, position, authority, ability, personal hobbies and topics of interest in the company, etc.; Who is the chief negotiator, his organizational ability, influence, opinion inclination, and degree of friendship with China; the conditions and requirements, intentions and plans that the other party will put forward during the negotiation; What is the relationship between the other party's personnel participating in the negotiation, whether there are contradictions, what nature of the contradictions are, whether they are of value to be used, etc.; Whether the other party's negotiators have friends they can rely on, whether there are allies they can win over, and objects that should be focused on guarding against, etc. Conducting business negotiations with Djibouti people is a competition that compares wisdom, perseverance and patience. Before negotiations, careful and meticulous preparations are needed to achieve "confidant and know what you are" in order to be able to "win in a hundred battles."

First of all, you should be aware of the position of your party in the negotiation; what is the first plan in the negotiation process, what is the alternative plan, and what is the best plan to choose, especially when the negotiation is deadlocked or breaks down. What is the plan that is beneficial to you?; the data, process, time, place, witnesses and many other facts to be listed during the negotiation process; The maximum extent of concessions you are prepared to make to the other party during negotiations, what concessions you hope the other party can make, etc.; whether the participants in the negotiations have enough confidence in success, whether they are sufficiently mentally prepared for the difficulty of the negotiation process, etc.

Secondly, it is necessary to understand in detail the situation of the negotiating partner, the basic situation of the other company, cooperation sincerity, interest needs, credit level, etc.; the news released by the other party, the content of officials 'speeches, financial budgets and plans, etc.; the attitude and strategies that the other party's negotiators will adopt. It is best to conduct several simulated negotiations in advance, carefully conduct pre-negotiation exercises around the content of the formal negotiations, try to discover the difficulties that will arise during the negotiation process, the pressures that will be faced, and certain issues that may be ignored, etc., and carefully study countermeasures. Be aware of it in advance.