Cultural diplomacy, or the more pejorative alternative – cultural imperialism, has become important player in global events. Cultural diplomacy may be seen as a tenet of international relations. It is one of the ‘soft’ aspects of state interactions. This is dissimilar to the ‘hard’ items of statutes, treaties, blocks, pacts, multilateral bodies and the military.

The Indian Council for Cultural Relations...has in recent years, shared the best of India with the world. And yet, for India's best and truest minds...a new and redemptive approach is needed. One that distinguishes our civilisation from our nation, and our nation from our State.

“The centenary celebrations would provide the country an excellent opportunity to exhibit India’s soft power on global scale and reinforce the idea of Cinemas of India along with the Incredible India campaign,” says Soni.

The work of Romanian cultural institutes will make the object of a distinct analysis. I believe in soft power, and Romania has a tremendous cultural vivacity which deserves to be properly publicised. I think that the Romanian Cultural Institute (ICR) under the leadership of Dr Patapievici is doing a great job in that sense, and we fully support its programmes.

The restoration of mosques carried out by the Foundation of Turkey’s Religious Affairs Directorate (Diyanet Vakfı) and the Turkish Cooperation and Development Agency (TİKA) constitute solid ground for Davutoğlu’s public diplomacy in the Balkans.

The power of cultural relations is in evoking rather than projecting values. We create openness and build trust. Ideologies which require violence and oppression to thrive are threatened by this work. The soft power of cultural relations is often most valuable in the hardest of locations.

According to Schmachtel who has been nominated as the cluster President for its first year, “EUNIC was formed in 2006 and has a reputation as Europe’s leading cultural relations practitioner to create lasting partnerships between professionals and to forge greater understanding and awareness of various European culture and to encourage language study.

The founding members are the Alliance Française, the British Council and the Goethe-Institut....creating effective partnerships and networks among them in order to improve and promote cultural diversity and understanding between European societies and to strengthen international dialogue and cultural cooperation with Nigeria.