Saying that "freedom of information is essential to stabilizing and rebuilding Afghanistan," the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has decided to expand its media activities in that country.

Latin America already has significant Chinese investments and trade agreements under its belt, but the region could set its sights on another resource-hungry Asian giant: India. A new report by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) recognizes that, even though Latin America’s commercial ties with India have been on the upswing in recent years, more could be done to build up the South Asian country as a Latin American market.

With thousands of people from the region and the rest of the world expected to attend the 7th Edition of the Pan African Dance Festival, FESPAD 2010, Rwanda says will market its rich cultural heritage.

Addressing years of complaints about slow and inconsistent processing of visa applications for foreign performing artists, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services told arts groups this week that it was making an effort to speed up and improve its visa operations.

On July 16, 2010, The Huffington Post published an opinion piece authored by John Brown, former U.S. Foreign Service officer and currently Adjunct Professor of Liberal Studies at Georgetown University.

I am suspicious of the phrase “21st-century statecraft”. I am suspicious because I can't define it...Is it a new kind of state-run broadcaster, a digital Radio Free Europe? Is it a new kind of public diplomacy...

I was intrigued to see several recent calls for bids by the U.S. Agency for International Development for programs that would, among other things, train young Arabs how to better use the Internet and other digital technologies for political activism, advocacy, greater transparency and accountability, and other such democratic practices.

While governments can do important work to promote peace, tolerance and understanding can come only from people, and not government bureaucracies, Under Secretary of State for Public Affairs and Public Diplomacy Judith McHale told South Asian Seeds of Peace participants at the State Department.