One of the most significant factors shaping foreign visitors’ opinions is the way they are received when entering the country. For advocates of U.S. public diplomacy, this is particularly important because of the value of having outsiders come to America to gain an appreciation of the freedoms and lifestyle enjoyed here.

On the opposing side, there are those who cite Kuwait in the sixties, seventies and a substantial part of the eighties when its leadership in development, business, foreign aid and cultural production afforded it a soft power influence many times its counterparts.

“Abu Dhabi Art is part of a greater vision to build transnational cultural institutions to ensure that the Arab world is not isolated,” said Rita Aoun Abdo, director of the cultural department of Abu Dhabi’s Tourism Development and Investment Co., or T.D.I.C., which co-organized the fair and is the agency behind the development of Saadiyat Island.

Judith McHale is currently the US Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs. She spoke to Gulf News during a visit to Dubai, after giving an address at the two-day Celebration of Entrepreneurship event on Tuesday.

Emirates is to increase flights from Dubai to Al Medinah al Munawarah in Saudi Arabia to seven flights per week from 31 October 2010 due to the growing importance of economic and cultural ties between the two nations.

The talk at DSG came as part of Ambassador Grossman's visit to Dubai, where he also interacted with students in DSG's Master of Public Administration program. In his interaction over a two-day period, he shared his valuable insights and conducted a simulation role-play exercise to communicate the dynamics of the diplomatic process.

In late March, twelve students from the Masters in Public Diplomacy (MPD) program at the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism participated in a weeklong conference in Dubai as part of a student exchange with the American University in Dubai's (AUD) Mohammed Bin Rashid School for Communication (MBRSC).