The new Turkish ambassador to Canada says his country’s interest in gaining admittance to the European Union has waned among members of the public but it shouldn’t. He said Turkey is Western in view and the EU is the “personification of that.”

APDS Blogger: Frank Cheng

BEIJING. On the first day of our trip, the MPD student delegation to China visited Peking University (PKU). We met with Professors Wang Dong and Yu Wanli as well as students of international relations to discuss the U.S.-China Bi-National Commission Report on Mutual Trust and their perspectives on Chinese public diplomacy.

In our rapidly changing world, old institutions often survive but are regularly supplemented with newer, larger groups that keep pace with progress. That’s certainly the case with the G-8 and G-20 meetings, which have an important place in diplomacy but also have limitations. As the world develops, dynamic nations clamor to have their voices heard.

The recent slowdown in India's exports calls for a re-examination of policies essential to propel India's foreign trade. One such policy is the recognition of geographical indications (GIs). What is currently under debate is the 'unequal provision or treatment' meted out to developing countries. As a result they are unable to capitalise on the true potential of GIs.

Soft power, a concept conceived by Havard University Professor Joseph Nye, is the ability to attract, convince and include others through persuasion rather than force or other means. Football has a special place in South Africa as the sport of the everyman. While cricket and rugby are two sports still dominated by the country's white community, football was the game that took deep root within the black majority.

The oldest Chinatown in the world is not in New York or San Francisco or even Yokohama. It is in Manila, a fact that comes up often when Beijing talks about its longstanding connection to the islands that lie about 600 miles to the southeast. Similarly, China boasts of its three Confucius Institutes in the Philippines where Filipinos can learn Mandarin and appreciate the many facets of Chinese culture.

China’s Communist Party has branched out into the development of online games in a bid to inculcate its ideology upon the nation’s young people.

ndia Brand Equity Foundation (http://www.ibef.org), whose immediate focus is the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) at Davos with its India Adda - akin to a cafe, is responsible for promoting the Made in India label both domestically and overseas. Working closely with the Ministry of Commerce, IBEF lends branding and marketing support for creating greater awareness of the number of success stories germinating and blooming in India.