Abu Dhabi: Many foreigners know India through stars in Bollywood films and famous Indian artists. That’s why art and culture make a far more lasting impact on relations [between nations and peoples] than that of diplomacy, a top Indian diplomat told Gulf News. India House, the Indian Ambassador’s residence in Abu Dhabi, will be hosting art exhibitions of both Indian and Emirati artists more often, T. P. Seetharam, Indian Ambassador to the UAE, said.

Hungary will make every effort to support Hungarian designers and prepare them for competition in the job market” – said Monika Balatoni, State Secretary for Cultural Diplomacy of the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade yesterday, at the opening of the Vienna Design Week, an international design festival. Lasting until 5 October, the event is the biggest design festival of Austria and this year’s guest is Hungary.
 

The acting president of Brazil, minister Ricardo Lewandowski, has enacted a cultural cooperation agreement with Kuwait in Brasília. The action takes place one day after Lewandowski, the president of Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court (STF) met with the Kuwaiti ambassador in Brazil, Ayadah Alsaidi. According to the STF, the agreement enacted Wednesday was signed in 2010 with Kuwait and lays the legal groundwork for cooperation and cultural exchange in fields like literature, cinema, performing arts, visual arts, music, libraries and museums.

Azerbaijan's Deputy Culture and Tourism Minister Adalat Valiyev and Austrian Senior Advisor for Strategies and Policies at the Interface of Arts, Culture and Education, member of the panel for the European Capitals of Culture Norbert Riedl held talks on September 23.

Iran's Ambassador to Lebanon Mohammad Ali Fathali and Lebanese Culture Minister Raymond Ariji voiced enthusiasm for utilizing the two sides' entire capacities to bolster Tehran-Beirut cooperation, particularly in cultural spheres.

The Chicago-based Manual Cinema puppet troupe recently returned from a week in Iran at the Tehran Mobarak Puppet Festival, where their performances were welcomed with multiple standing ovations. Drew Dir, one of the US troupe's artistic directors, says the experience was a bit of shadow-puppet diplomacy. “Right before our first show, we were handed a note that told us this was the first time since 1979 that an American flag had been flown in the central city of Tehran - in our honor for participating in the festival," he says. 

President Nicos Anastasiades paid tribute to Cyprus-Israel relations during the opening of an exhibition in New York titled ‘Jewish refugees in Cyprus en route to Israel’, which was held at the Sam and Esther Minskoff Cultural Centre in Manhattan.