A curated selection of public diplomacy-relevant news from a global cross-section of English-language media outlets, including independent, corporate-owned, and state-sponsored sources. The stories featured don't necessarily represent CPD's views nor have they been verified by CPD.

Saudi youth delegation explores China

Twenty young Saudis are marking the 20 years of diplomatic relations between the People’s Republic of China and Saudi Arabia by participating in a forum hosted by the All-China Youth Federation.

Tags: china, government pd, cultural exchange, youth, saudi arabia, people-to-people

EU funds to transform Silk Road into internet superhighway

The Silk Road is an ancient transportation channel that began in China and traversed Central Asia, West Asia, Africa and Europe...Technological advances over the years have compelled researchers worldwide to take key components from the past and transform them so as to meet a more advanced future. This significant investment to the Central Asia Research and Education Network (CAREN) has effectively upgraded the Silk Road to a 21st century high-speed internet highway for research and education.

Tags: new technology, europe, non-state pd

Time Is Running Out

The Commonwealth Games (CWG) are Delhi's biggest sporting event ever. Yet with just days left for the event, the national media discourse on Delhi 2010, world opinion and indeed the mood in the city present a rather gloomy picture.

Tags: india, public opinion, image building, commonwealth games

A U.S. engagement success story on the outskirts of Paris

The United States doesn't always do the best job of promoting itself abroad. Lots of people in lots of different places like to burn American flags and chant anti-U.S. slogans. It's stock footage at this point. But yesterday the New York Times highlighted an encouraging U.S. cultural diplomacy effort in a pretty unexpected area: French banlieues.

Tags: united states, public opinion, france, image building

Confucius connecting Canberra, China

Canberra is often criticised for being a city of monuments. Mahatma Gandhi has been immortalised in bronze and perhaps most controversially, the late Labor-stalwart Al Grassby. Now there is one more luminary to add to the list - the long-dead but still influential Chinese philosopher, Confucius.

Tags: china, Cultural Diplomacy, government pd, australia

France v the world

IT WAS operation damage control this week, as the Elysée tried to revive the president’s standing abroad after sharp criticism of his expulsion of Romanies...For all the president’s defiance, the French have been knocked by the response to the Romani row. Fully 71% of respondents to one poll said that they thought France’s image abroad had been tainted.

Tags: government pd, public opinion, france, roma, nicolas sarkozy

Opinion: At India’s Commonwealth Games, shame might be a blessing

A wholesale cancellation of the Commonwealth Games might just be the best thing for India...Many observers will be tempted to see this failure [of the Games] as a fable of false pride ending in just humiliation. But apathy, not hubris, is India's fatal flaw, and a bracing dose of shame may be exactly what is needed to shake its incredibly capable, but politically inert, middle class into action.

Tags: india, public opinion, commonwealth games

GCC, UK pledge to further ties

British Foreign Office Minister for the Middle East Alistair Burt met with Ambassadors from the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) states Thursday at the Foreign Office to discuss methods of developing ties between the two sides...
As Burt set out, the forthcoming "GCC Days in Europe Expo" (cultural event), which will take place in London on the 18-22 October, will be an excellent opportunity to exchange more ideas and build the relationship even further.

Tags: Cultural Diplomacy, government pd, united kingdom, gulf cooperation council

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