There are two Latin American festivals going on – can you guess where they are? Neither of these festivals are located in Latin America, or even in the United States. Do you give up? The first festival is in its fourth year and takes place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; the second festival is in its sixth year and is happening right now in Seoul, South Korea.

Thriving on creative exchange and operating in non-traditional ways, Istanbul’74 hosts everything from cultural events, festivals, workshops, panel discussions, exhibitions and artistic collaborations which bring together the leading personalities in art, fashion, literature, film and design from all over the world.

Fifth Avenue in Manhattan will turn blue and white June 3 as 29 floats with musical performers, 18 marching bands and 35,000 marchers entertain hundreds of thousands of spectators for the largest yearly gathering of support for Israel in the world, New York City’s annual Celebrate Israel Parade.

Five major literature festivals - the Jaipur Literature Festival, Mountain Echoes in Bhutan, the Kathmandu Literary Yatra, the Galle Literary Festival in Sri lanka and the Karachi Literature Festival - which have been showcasing literature as a medium of holistic exchange together with music, performing and visual arts and local lifestyles are forging a new south Asian solidarity on the strength of the region's soft power.

Cultural diplomacy underlies the exceptional works included in this year's international music festival. Performed in monumental spaces such as the national museum, the concerts, which have a strong East-West flavour, will reach out to everyone...

It is soft power that will to a large extent make or unmake superpowers of the future. China and India are the obvious candidates to be considered as the future superpowers. India will have to pit itself against the might of the Chinese economic machine.

The Delhi International Arts Festival (DIAF) lined up a host of cultural activities to celebrate the 100th Year of the Emergence of Delhi as the capital city. In its 5th year, India’s ‘Signature Festival’ maintained its strong position on the international cultural map... The festival served as a significant platform for cultural diplomacy, cutting across geographical barriers and looking beyond cultural stereotypes.

The event "is in itself an excellent example of important public diplomacy exchanges in the EU-Vietnam relation,” said Mr. Franz Jessen, ambassador – head of the Delegation of the European Union in Vietnam.