...Azerbaijan’s desire to pursue more active public diplomacy was driven primarily by the constant concerns over falling behind Armenia in the “information war” front of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which remains to be the most important issue for Azerbaijanis. Having achieved economic success, Azerbaijan is keen to use it oil revenues in order to promote its image abroad and influence foreign audiences.

Participants at the First Meeting on Public Diplomacy, organized by the Moroccan Association for Development and Parallel Diplomacy (AMADIP) in Rabat on July 27 and 28, stressed the need to unify visions and efforts of public diplomacy actors and have a proactive approach to diplomacy instead of a seasonal and folkloric one.

On July 25, Department Secretary of State Bill Burns announced the creation of Networks of Diasporas in Engineering and Science, or NODES, at an event organized by the Office of the Science and Technology Advisor to the Secretary of State (STAS). At the same event, Under Secretary of State of Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Tara Sonenshine launched the Science, Technology, and Innovation Expert Partnership.

The Secretary’s Global Diaspora Forum recognizes and celebrates the work of American diaspora communities with roots across the globe and encourages them to contribute to the development of, and diplomatic relations with, their countries of origin. For additional information about the Global Diaspora Forum agenda, please visit: http://diasporaalliance.org/.

The theme of this year’s Forum is “Moving Forward by Giving Back,” and will focus on how the U.S. Government and diaspora communities are partnering to further investment and trade, philanthropy, volunteerism, social innovation, and entrepreneurship in developing and emerging communities around the world.

As part of a public diplomacy program, the Fiji mission in New Zealand is actively building people-to-people contacts. The Foreign Ministry says the mission is also seeking to raise awareness of Fiji's national interests among future leaders of New Zealand.

Envoys of 25 African countries and charge d’affaires of 11 others assembled at the Hyderabad House here Wednesday to take stock of the ongoing partnerships between India and Africa under the umbrella “INDIAFRICA: A Shared Future” people-to-people initiative of the public diplomacy division of the ministry of external affairs.

Turkey steadily since the rise of AKP party in 2002 in power, is investing considerable resources upon expanding its reach both in the Islamic and in the Western world, by the use of Islamic organizations that are spread in dozens of countries and are mainly composed by Turkish-descent citizens. The web of relations and transactions between them and with Turkey are multitude and far-reaching.