Minister for Defence and National Security Ratu Inoke Kubuabola yesterday met with the Australian Minister for International Development and the Pacific, Concetta Fierravanti-Wells. [...] “Fiji will pursue the establishment of the Regional Peacekeeping and HADR Centre and we hope development partners will join our efforts and look at a specific component of the model to support.”

Many analysts and scholars have said that Addis Ababa is emerging as a major actor in the Sub-Regional, Continental, and even global scenes by mentioning material growth indicators such as economic growth, military advancement or demographic evolution. [...] Ethiopia's impeccable peacekeeping exploits can serve as an influence whilst enhancing the country's standing in the diplomatic table as a soft power.

Scottish police officers are to take their expertise on tackling violence against women and children into the scene of one of the world’s most brutal civil wars of recent times. Police Scotland will team up with the United Nations-backed specialists on gender-based violence and child abuse in the Rwandan capital of Kigali to develop policing techniques and better protect victims. 

The era following the end of the 16th century Japan is best known as the “Age of the Samurai.” Dr. Tomoko Kitagawa explains that during this turbulent period, Japan was unified and governed by individual domains. [...] Through unique acts of tremendous bravery and peacekeeping, these women provide a model of diplomacy exceptionally relevant even in today’s world.

The Armenia-Azerbaijan Platform for Peace is a unique platform put forward by human rights activists and representatives of non-governmental organizations and civil society of Armenia and Azerbaijan [...] He noted that for the first time since the beginning of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, representatives of the Armenian and Azerbaijani civil society have decided to create such a platform.

As minister of International Development and La Francophonie, I have visited 15 or so countries and Canada's re-engagement was pointed out to me during each of them. But what does this re-engagement really mean? Here are five major achievements that speak to Canada's re-engagement on the international scene and the impact of our actions.

We are already past the midway mark in our new Hacking for Diplomacy course at Stanford [...] Having logged more than 550 interviews of potential beneficiaries, the teams have delved deep into understanding the problems sourced from the State Department. The challenges are tough - such as how to improve data on refugees who go missing or perish on their journeys, and how to better evaluate the effectiveness of peacekeeping forces. 

Since his election in October 2015, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been focusing on the re-branding of Canadian soft power and has concentrated on returning to the “international mediator” position it had held at the end of the 20th century. The strides he has made towards this has been reflected in his shuttle diplomacy with governments and organizations across the world.