But the biennial...has long been one of the oddities of the rapidly growing Middle Eastern art scene: a relatively freewheeling survey of recent work from around the region and around the world, underwritten by one of the most culturally ambitious but conservatively Islamic of the seven states that make up the United Arab Emirates.

Speakers at a seminar titled “Cricket Diplomacy Makes a Difference” welcomed people-to-people contact between India and Pakistan on sports and cultural activities to defuse traditional tension between the governments of both the countries.

Under normal circumstances, Terry Hardy, 18, of Belfast, Northern Ireland, and Noy Ilan, 17, of Rishon Lezion would have never met and would have never had anything in common. But the brutal acts of terrorism that struck both their families changed their lives forever...

In Indonesia, home to 205 million Muslims — the greatest Islamic population in any nation— the administration recently opened in an upscale shopping mall a state-of-the-art, high-tech cultural centre. It is focused specifically on the country’s vast number of teenagers and twentysomethings.

APDS Blogger: Emina Vukic

Public diplomacy works to communicate culture and values to foreign publics; gastrodiplomacy uses culinary delights to appeal to global appetites, and thus helps raise a nation's brand awareness and reputation.

In the minds of many American, when mentioning Vietnam, the first thought is still, undoubtedly, the Vietnam War. The Vietnamese people on the other hand, most of which are below the age of thirty, don’t remember the war, but are reminded of it regularly by propaganda billboards...

As an autonomous entity within the government, the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) is responsible for promoting India's cultural exchanges with other countries. In the past three decades, the ICCR has organised a number of India festivals across the world.