The allocation of a piece of land to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) in Kuwait is part of the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative (ICI) launched in 2004, a senior Kuwaiti official has said. “The move consolidates Kuwait’s interest in international missions, especially that Kuwait was the first Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) country to join the ICI,”

"I will definitely keep my promise to open a new era of the Korean peninsula through strong security and diplomacy on the basis of mutual trust," the 60-year old conservative leader said. During the campaign, both Park and her main challenger Moon Jae-in offered competing commitment to improve ties with Pyongyang and its new leader Kim Jong-un.

“As cabinet secretary he will ensure that the government’s policy framework is cohesive and coordinated,” he said. “In addition, as the chief officer responsible for Information Technology and Government Information Services, I will be expecting him to champion a fresh impetus towards a more ‘digital’ government that delivers services more effectively to our customers and to promote the use of social media to communicate with our citizens.”

Kerry, meanwhile, said America's diplomatic corps should receive additional resources. But he stressed that embassies should not be turned into fortresses that isolate diplomats from the countries where they're working.

In a statement released by his office, the Israeli Premier said “we are [operating] on four fronts: The military front, the home front, the diplomatic front and the public diplomacy front”, as he continued to stress: “What you are doing greatly strengthens us on the public diplomacy front.”

The report, by a five-strong Accountability Review Board (ARB), also called for $2.3 billion in extra funding over the next 10 years to fortify and improve some of America’s 275 diplomatic outposts around the world. “It’s no understatement that our diplomats are on the front lines of the world’s most dangerous places,” Senator John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations committee said.

News reports say Sen. John Kerry (D) will be tapped for State while former Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel, a moderate Republican, may be headed for the Pentagon. If so, this would suggest a return to Mr. Obama’s attempts early in his first presidency to engage America’s adversaries abroad rather than isolate or harm them.

Our position in the world and how we are perceived from abroad matters economically and politically. A positive image abroad can support export-led growth and inward investment, but also facilitates "soft power" and British influence on the world stage. Has 2012 changed global perceptions and improved brand Britain?