International summits are typically stiff, orchestrated affairs where even loosening a tie can seem like a radical breach of protocol. [...] Over pizza, cookies and games that involved M&Ms and stories about their favorite childhood toys, a group of 15 student leaders from Finland and 16 student government leaders at Gaithersburg High School met Tuesday to share experiences and explore differences for teenagers in the two countries.

Norway was ranked fifth in the 2016 Country RepTrak rankings, trailing only Sweden, Canada, Switzerland and Australia. Fellow Nordic nations Finland and Denmark were close behind, at sixth and eighth place respectively. [...] The report was compiled by the Reputation Institute, which claims to be the world’s "leading consulting and advisory firm for reputation". The institute promotes the Country RepTrak ranking as the world’s largest survey of country reputation.

Finland’s official promotion body is taking a new approach with its YouTube channel by handing it over to ten young experts in the medium. They will produce their own videos with just two stipulations: they have to be in English and in Finland. ThisisFinland, which operates under the Foreign Ministry, thinks this could be the first time a country promotion body has allowed guests to run its YouTube channel.

The migration of ministries of foreign affairs (MFAs) to social media is by no means a new occurrence. Indeed, the Israeli, Swedish, and American MFAs have been active on Twitter for nearly a decade. It may therefore be time to investigate if MFAs have mastered the use of social media to attain diplomatic goals—be it conversing with foreign populations, gathering information on other nations' foreign policies, or narrating a coherent national image. 

Revolving around the theme of innovation, design and sustainability, the Make In India Centre showcases some of the country's most innovative and trendsetting products and manufacturing processes before the world for the first time after the global launch of the 'Make In India' initiative in September 2014.