The Goethe-Institut announced at its annual press conference on Monday in Berlin that it would be setting up shop in Baku, Azerbaijan and Yerevan, Armenia, in the coming year. The German parliament has reserved three million euros for the branches, which would host language courses and cultural programming. The organization already runs 159 institutes in 98 countries.

Australia has a 64-year history of utilising volunteers in its aid program that has inspired similar programs in New Zealand, Canada and the United States, according to the Minister for International Development and the Pacific, Concetta Fierravanti-Wells. Still, the Australian Volunteers for International Development program is just a small piece of Australia’s aid program. 

A total of 20 young leaders from China and Austria have engaged in close discussions and exchanges in a four-day agenda from Nov. 30 to Dec. 3, in Beijing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen to enhance mutual understanding and friendship between the two countries. [...] Revolving around topics including cultural inheritance and China-EU interconnectivity, delegates from the two sides have engaged in lively discussions.

In the context of this fraught historical moment, Tehran’s new exhibition is being promoted as a bracing act of cultural diplomacy. The exhibition is a collaboration between the government-owned TMoCA, the commercial Mohsen Gallery, and the Emirati Barjeel Art Foundation. It encompasses work from a variety of Arab countries 

The 2016 Asia-Pacific Culture Day concluded Nov. 6 at Taipei Main Station, with 20 foreign missions from the region and representatives from seven local governments participating in Taiwan’s efforts to promote cultural exchanges, interactions and understanding between Taiwan and its diplomatic allies and partners throughout the region.

Nine students and two chaperones headed off July 12 for Miyoshi City, the official “sister city” of The Dalles. [...] The objective of the visits is “to build and sustain cross-cultural connections and mutual understanding with our sister cities and the larger global community,” read an excerpt from the mission statement of the Sister Cities website.