Secretary General of the International Exhibitions Bureau, Vicente Gonzalez Loscertales, discusses the Expo as a platform for public diplomacy, and gives a sneak preview of the Expos in the coming years.

The Group of 20 summit in Seoul is expected to offer South Korea a huge opportunity to enhance its national brand. The event is expected to allow South Korea to promote its economic achievements among world leaders, their delegations and journalists and help the nation enhance its undervalued national competitiveness.

A view of the national pavilion of China and Chinese provinces pavilion.

Over the last months Jay Wang from the USC Center on Public Diplomacy in Los Angeles, CA has done a formidable work covering the pavillions of some of the most important countries and the world and has also interviewed some of the executives in charge of them.

Earlier this week we looked at how countries have taken different tactics in their nation branding efforts at the Shanghai’s World Expo. But, how do these approaches render in real life?

“The frequent confusion between South and North Korea and global coverage on the North often undermine efforts to enhance our brand awareness,” Lee Bae-yong, chair of the Presidential Council on Nation Branding (PCNB), told an international forum in Seoul.

It's not an exaggeration to say that all eyes will be fixed on Seoul in November with Korea hosting the G20 Summit. Ahead of the global meeting the Presidential Council on Nation Branding organized a conference on how the summit will affect Korea's national brand.