The US State Department is asking for more than $6 million to convert its Interests Section in Havana to an embassy and $528,000 for a new program called “Cuba Outreach Initiative,” budget documents show.

Six visiting Maori clay artists, as part of a 10-day cultural exchange organized through Clatsop Community College, have spent this week on the North Coast touring, meeting with local dignitaries, bonding with Chinookans and even trying to pique the interest of local high school students about their backgrounds and art.

The Sudanese Acrobatic Troupe was formed at a time when there was a growing concern with the role to be played by the arts in promotion of the cultural and social development.

Japan and China agreed to boost people-to-people exchanges on Thursday during the first talks between their consular officials in three years, the Foreign Ministry said in Tokyo. The two countries also agreed during the talks in Tokyo to expedite visa processing for Chinese tourists visiting Japan who are growing in number.

One more important task of the pavilion is to present Kazakhstan as the host of EXPO 2017. Considering the difficulties that Milan faced while preparing EXPO 2015, Kazakhstan will take this experience into account in arranging for its exhibit in Astana and hold it at the highest level, said First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and the national EXPO commissioner Rapil Zhoshybayev.

The move is part of President Barack Obama’s strategy to normalize relations with Cuba by engaging in direct talks with the government of President Raúl Castro. Reviving a mode of travel between the two countries that was common in the 1950s would ease the people-to-people contact that is a cornerstone of Mr. Obama’s policy of engagement.

Plisetskaya’s U.S. debut came at a time when ballet made prominent headlines in America—in part because of its role as a tool of Cold War cultural diplomacy between the U.S. and Soviet Union—and dancers regularly became household names. The Bolshoi made the cover of Newsweek the week before we wrote about Plisetskaya’s arrival.

The Berlin Institute for Cultural Diplomacy has unveiled plans to support Nigerian youths get access to higher education opportunities. The Institute's Nigerian Representative said it has concluded arrangements to launch an international programme to enable access to educational/professional development opportunities and scholarships.