The French Embassy celebrated Bastille Day in Seoul on Monday with a slew of French and South Korean businesses, while reflecting on its growing diplomatic and cultural relations with Korea.  Bastille Day, or “La Fete Nationale,” is France’s National Day and celebrates the storming of the Bastille fortress on July 14, 1789. 

The Organization of American States (OAS), together with the Haitian Foreign Ministry and Haiti’s Center for Investment Facilitation (CFI), this week launched a new training course on business diplomacy in Port-au-Prince. The course aims to strengthen the institutional capacity of the Haitian public and private sectors in the area of investment and international trade, and to foster inter-institutional cooperation on business diplomacy.

Yingluck, elegantly dressed in a black suit and surrounded by her entourage of cabinet ministers...Yingluck’s charm, patience, tolerance, politeness and flexibility have helped restore political stability to the country since she took office in August 2011. “She represents the soft power of Thailand."

Farb believes that Israel’s survival depends on how it conducts business, in addition to its diplomacy and defense. He said that Israel’s technology, our lifeline, brings people from around the world here to study our technology, or to buy it.

"When we go to another country solving their water problems, it’s the best public diplomacy," says businessman Ronald Lauder.

Working to strengthen economic partnerships between the United States and Africa, the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs announced today that 43 African women business leaders will travel to the United States September 19 through October 7 as part of the African Women’s Entrepreneurship Program.

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.

"The soft power of Taiwan's small- and medium-sized businesses comes from innovation, overseas market expansion and efficiency,: said Chiang. "Mainland China, meanwhile, has hard power such as a big labor force, and abundant land and resources."