A delegation of Independent Industrialists and Businessmen Association (MUSIAD) from Turkey held a meeting with the Muslim Economic Forum India (MEFI) on 22nd August at India Islamic Cultural Centre (IICC) New Delhi and extended cooperation in promoting India-Turkey economic relations.

"The contents of the MoU include broadening of scientific and cultural relations, preparing the grounds for cooperation between the two countries' scientific and cultural bodies and holding joint scientific, literary and research conferences," the Iranian cultural attaché told reporters in Dushanbe on Wednesday.

Whether through economic incentives, political pressure or international collaboration, there is no question that Moscow has the influence needed to maintain peace in the South Caucasus. With the myriad reasons for avoiding war on its southern periphery, Russia also has tangible motivations for keeping Armenia and Azerbaijan from returning to the battlefield.  

While China and the United States have generally competed for influence in Africa, a new Chinese proposal might be looking to change that competition into greater cooperation, particularly in the area of international development.  China has invited the United States to cooperate bilaterally on international development aid in Africa. 

The same diplomatic maneuvering is practiced in any series of international negotiations, but in this case, the fog of diplomacy was more dense than usual. One reason is that the Obama administration felt that it had to manage the public discourse about the negotiations in the United States to avoid losing control of public opinion to the pro-Israeli right in Congress.

Voice of America officials are concerned that a new House bill to overhaul U.S.-controlled international broadcasting will have a "devastating" effect on the network's journalistic integrity if it is signed into law.

With reference to Pakistan, our busy diplomats in the world’s power hub of Washington DC are gradually embracing social media but are not sufficiently trained to engage in debates on social media. That is unfortunate because social media has become the new public diplomacy tool and is far cheaper than the bloated budgets of fancy diplomatic events. In this age of rapid-fire peer-to-peer connectivity, the Pakistan embassy is still boxed in in the world of achingly slow government-to-government negotiations.