The 27th July marks just two years to go to the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games which will see excited fans from around the world descend on the UK capital to participate in what will be the nation’s most prestigious sporting event to date.

Culture and creativity are central to life in the 21st century. The global stakes have never been higher; never before have we been surrounded by so much information or so much art - high and popular, visual and aural, original and reproduced, amusing and challenging, bland and exciting.

Today, the State Department is reaching out to foreign publics in partnership with major private sector partners including Jazz at the Lincoln Center and the Brooklyn Academy of Music as well as maintaining its own program of visits, exhibitions and tours.

The brilliant performance by a 13-member Egyptian folk dance troupe at Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA) ended about ten years of cultural isolation between the two countries. Incidentally, the show also celebrated the National Day of Egypt.

Recent years have seen a welcome resurgence in U.S. Cultural Diplomacy, which after honorable service in the Cold War, sailed into the doldrums in the mid-1990s. Today, the State Department is reaching out to foreign publics in partnership with major private sector partners including Jazz at the Lincoln Center and the Brooklyn Academy of Music as well as maintaining its own program of visits, exhibitions and tours. While the new initiatives began under the administration of George W.

In a bid to use the arts and culture effectively in global diplomatic roles, Nigeria is planning to set up cultural centres in such countries as U.S.A., China and Brazil.

Tetsuya Watanabe, the official in charge of the Cool Japan section at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, could not hide his shock at the strides being made by South Korea.

This year's festival aims to cross lines -- lines between globe and region, culture and industry, creativity and daily life, government and society, and various other categories of culture and creativity... Institutions from 11 countries have participated in the festival...