The Malaysian External Trade Development Corporation (Matrade) must be lauded for popularising Malaysian food through its much-publicized Malaysian Kitchen Programme which has entered into its second year... The response to Malaysia's Kitchen Programme in the New York/New Jersey region has been quite positive...

Public diplomacy is a field predicated on the communication of culture and values to foreign publics; gastrodiplomacy is the act of winning hearts and minds via stomachs. Gastrodiplomacy uses culinary delights to appeal to the global public’s appetite, and thus helps raise a nation’s brand awareness and reputation.

The Information Communication and Culture Ministry will hold 140 communalising of arts and culture events nationwide in line with the 1Malaysia concept this year.

Having taught students at university, Poland’s Ambassador to Malaysia Prof Dr Adam W. Jelonek’s will now focus on “academic diplomacy.” ...Visits from top university officials from Poland are already in the pipeline and a bilateral agreement on higher education is due to be signed next year.

For those not of the PD cohort, a middle power is neither a super power nor small power, but resides somewhere in the middle...Middle Powers are usually multilateralist and are apt to try to use public diplomacy to increase their visibility on the international stage...

Indian premier Manmohan Singh’s recent visit to Malaysia comes at a time when India is also rediscovering its long historical and cultural links to the region, which scholars once dubbed ‘Greater India’. It coincides with efforts by numerous Indian bodies such as the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) to rebuild the cultural bridge with a part of the world that is so close to India, and yet somehow distant.

Secretary Clinton also is scheduled to engage in public diplomacy with Malaysians by speaking at the International Institute for Islamic Thought and Civilization in the capital. She is the first U.S. secretary of state to make a bilateral visit to Malaysia since Warren Christopher in 1995.

Malaysia-Brunei cultural ties soar to a greater height this week through the "Titian Budaya Malaysia-Brunei" programme which showcased the unique customs and traditions of the peoples of both countries.