Cultural exchange between skaters in the U.S. and other countries can help improve relations between nations from the bottom up, according to Neftalie Williams, Cuba Skate’s Chair and Research Director at USC Annenberg’s Institute of Sports, Media and Society. Williams compared the potential of skate diplomacy with the role that ping-pong played in restoring U.S.-Chinese relations in the early 1970’s.

The Foreign Affairs Ministry is rolling out a new kind of diplomacy, which includes a netball team, the Cook Islands and $50,000 of taxpayer money. The cash will come from the Public Diplomacy Fund, allowing New Zealand's national development squad to play a series of tests in Rarotonga to mark the 50th anniversary of the Cook Islands' independence. 

South Korea’s soccer chief Chung Mong-gyu will discuss reviving cross-border internationals with his North Korea counterparts on a visit to Pyongyang later this month, the Korea Football Association (KFA) said on Monday.

We make it clear in everything that we do that their identity is British and football is a great way of doing this.It breaks down barriers, brings people together and is a fantastic way to learn about British history and culture. What could be more British than playing football?”

Sports and the passion that surrounds it is a universal language. This summer, a widely anticipated basketball game in the capital city of Belarus pitted former NBA players against the national team of Belarus, but behind the picks, assists and dunks was an exercise in evangelism and diplomacy.

South Korea’s Unification Ministry, the country’s main agency for inter-Korean affairs, said an under-15 international soccer tournament in Pyongyang began on Friday and is proceeding as planned. The competition involves squads from countries that include China, Brazil and South Korea.

ASEAN members are focusing on important emerging issues in the region and have opted to approach them using soft diplomacy, with soccer as one of their tools. 

As US Secretary of State, John Kerry, reopens the American embassy in Havana, Will Grant reports on how skateboards are being used to establish bonds between the old enemies. NGO Cuba Skate is helping to strengthen that bond through skateboard diplomacy.