While Chinese tourists in Australia for Lunar New Year are being targeted in the hope they will spend big on Australian fashion [...] Mr Coghlan is helping find ways to build cultural connections and "soft power diplomacy" between the two countries, by taking designers and Australian fashion industry representatives into China - and vice versa.

Organizers of the Puerto Vallarta Jazz Festival are fine tuning the last details of the event to be held February 12-13. The event is organized with the Sister City Foundation and Puerto Vallarta’s Sister City of Highland Park (Illinois).

South Sudan’s education minister, John Gai is in Zimbabwe to plans to hiring of hundreds of its teachers and nurses to work in the young nation. The Zimbabwean Chronicle newspaper reported recently that Juba intends to hire 20,000 Zimbabwean graduates to work at internationally-paid rates equivalent to those given to United Nations staff.

Ghana will host the third Annual Diplomatic Fair, which was formally known as Embassy Fair from May 24 to May 26, 2016 at the Accra International Conference Centre. The Fair is being organised by Precise Communications Limited in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration and the office of the Dean of the Diplomatic Corps in Ghana.

Seeking “soft power,” in the Arab world, China is setting up some educational collaborations to invest in the Arab world’s scientific and technical workforce. These aims were outlined in what is being called the Chinese government’s first Arab policy paper, published earlier this month.  

Everybody wants to be in the film business, it seems. Web retailer Amazon makes shows. Netflix used to only deliver content, but now makes its own series. One of the first things e-commerce giant Alibaba did after going public was to set up a film division. The reason for the rush is, in a word, branding.

Qatar’s brand is now the ninth-most powerful in the world, according to an annual ranking released by UK-based consulting firm ‘Brand Finance’ in 2015. As a progressive country, Qatar, through its visionary leadership, has used many strategies, in particular its soft power, to enhance its position in the international community. 

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has returned to Ottawa after a much-hyped first stint at the World Economic Forum's annual summit in Davos, Switzerland, where he enjoyed a star-like reception. [...] We wanted to hear what you thought: What does all this buzz mean at home in Canada?