There is an informative intersection of research initiatives, both geographically and topically, when examining a nation like Angola, a resource rich sub-Saharan African country that is only a decade or so removed from years of horrific civil war. Recently, we analyzed the mediated public diplomacy efforts of Angola in the United States.

Members of the Senior Public Diplomacy Group headed by Choi Ha-kyung welcomed guests and speakers to the Annual Korean Culture & Heritage Dinner Party at Ibis Myeongdong Ambassador Hotel in Seoul on Thursday night.

Romanian Ambassador in Baku Daniel Cristian Ciobanu has praised Azerbaijan`s cooperation with NATO as he addressed a reception marking the completion of the first year of the fourth NATO Contact Point Embassy mandate. [...] Since the early 1990s, NATO has developed a network of Contact Point Embassies (CPE) to support the Alliance’s partnership and public diplomacy activities in partner countries. 

Abe’s call for an agreement, however, did not quite translate into strong public diplomacy. A press briefing by a Japanese official on the opening day, held to explain Abe’s speech, turned out to be the only news conference for the international media held by the Japanese delegation during the 13-day conference, which ended Saturday.

It is sad to learn of the recent passing of Evelyn Lieberman, one of the great women of U.S. public diplomacy. Lieberman brought energy and integrity to Bill Clinton’s second administration in the first instance as his director of Voice of America and then -- following the consolidation of USIA into the State Department in 1999 -- as the first person to hold the new post of Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs.  

During the latest China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) summit, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced a new development assistance deal for Africa. The $60 billion development package will include a string of zero-interest loans for infrastructure projects. But the latest deals also include more cultural exchange projects as well as scholarships and training programs for Africans.

BASED IN Hong Kong, the South China Morning Post has a distinguished 112-year history as an independent news source, in English, about China […] Chinese Internet mogul Jack Ma’s company, Alibaba, has just announced plans to buy the paper [...] It may well be that the South China Morning Post is about to be molded into a pseudo-private instrument of the Chinese state’s “soft power,” […]

Nguyen Nguyet Nga is the first female economics director in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, nominated by the President as Ambassador. She is a high ranking official at the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), deputy head of the Vietnamese government negotiation delegation for economic and trade issues. She was also the Vietnamese Embassy Envoy in the US. Nga is always very busy as she undertakes many different works. She now is busy with preparing for the APEC high ranking conferences and the activities to be held in Vietnam in 2017.