Initiated by the International Marketing Council (IMC) of South Africa... the summits aim to increase provincial participation in the nation-branding effort and encourage active citizenship – which, in turn, will help position the country as a top investment and tourism destination.

Meanwhile, we must all ask ourselves, as individual citizens, how we can help. This might mean private donations, as in previous humanitarian emergencies in Indonesia after the tsunami or Haiti after the earthquake, or it could mean pushing elected representatives toward a more robust response.

When it comes to overseas aid, the British are hard-headed but not hard-hearted, David Cameron declared on July 19th in Nigeria. In Lagos, Mr Cameron painted a vision of British aid as a catalyst for economic growth. A new opinion poll commissioned by Chatham House, a think-tank, shows deep scepticism about Mr Cameron’s foreign priorities.

Who deserves credit for bringing the Republic of South Sudan into existence as the 193rd country in the United Nations? One strong candidate for acclaim is the phenomenon of celebrity activism led by Hollywood's paramount leading man, George Clooney. As might be expected, there continue to be ripples of outright dismissal of Clooney's efforts from the usual suspects.

China will open a two-day education exhibition on Friday in the Kenyan capital Nairobi to promote local understanding about the Asian country's higher education and attract more Kenyan students to study in China.

Egyptian foreign policy tended to maximize the value of Africa and Egyptian concern for strengthening our relationship with all African partners, especially the countries of the Nile Basin, whether through official diplomatic channels or public diplomacy.

According to the author of the quarterly Nation Brand Index, Simon Anholt, "if traditional diplomacy is government-to-government (G2G) and public diplomacy is government-to-people (G2P), then effective nation branding also includes an element of P2P.