I particularly like the idea of “using food as a foundation for public diplomacy programs to learn about different cultures and discuss important related issues such as nutrition, sustainability and food security.”

Through Serenta (outreach and public diplomacy programme), we inform students on how Asean was conceived and its successes to date," he said, adding that more activities were being planned..."With the support of ambassadors, high commissioners and ministries, we are very confident that we will host Asean and (assume) the chairmanship with success.

The agency is using social media to circumvent established news outlets in order to take its stories straight to an eager audience. That’s especially important at a moment when the general perception is that U.S. budget troubles, friendly relations with former space-race foes, and the Space Shuttle’s retirement have left the agency struggling for a new raison d’être.

"Our cause is to advance the Government's Economic Diplomacy", the Foreign Minister told the delegation when he formally received them yesterday at his Foreign Ministry office on Capitol Hill...In response, the Foreign Minister added that the Ministry's support to the initiative was not in isolation of the Government's action plan of actualizing its Economic Diplomacy.

Although coined by Joseph Nye, the practice of soft-power diplomacy is of course nothing new...However, it has never before served as the central tenant of American foreign policy strategy because previous administrations always recognized that soft-power diplomacy does not work in the absence of hard-power leverage.

The "Kung Fu Panda" movies, about a bumbling panda who becomes a martial arts hero, are hugely popular in China. They prompted debate about why a Hollywood studio was more successful than the country's own studios at creating a successful movie based on Chinese themes.

Today, the American Security Project released its report on the strategic necessity for strong American public diplomacy. The New Public Diplomacy Imperative examines many of the issues in contemporary public diplomacy, and recommends best practices for policy makers and public diplomacy practitioners.