Some of the latest innovations on display included paper USBs, translation tools and mobile crisis intervention projects. Focal topics included use of social media, mobile phones and innovative tools for exchanging content with audiences, and tools for getting information into press-restrictive societies such as Cuba, Syria and China.

“Communications technology has dramatically democratized the process of gaining a public audience,” said journalist and former military analyst Joshua Foust at a Washington forum on digital diplomacy.

China will almost certainly pass the United States in the total size of its economy within a decade or so. But if one looks also at military and "soft power" resources, the United States is likely to remain more powerful than China for at least the next few decades. Does it matter?

The Empowering Women and Girls through Sports Initiative aims to increase the number of women and girls involved in sports. From June 17- 27, the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) will bring ten teenage field hockey players and two female coaches from Pakistan to the United States for an international sports exchange. This program builds on the U.S. global commitment to advance the rights of women and girls around the world.

With its emerging economy and burgeoning economic links with Asia and Africa, Brasilia has begun to project influence on the world stage, with an expanded diplomatic service and new embassies across the global South. This, added to its distinct policy agenda, means it rubs against American interests more often. Brazil sees itself as a consensus-seeker in global affairs and emphasises soft power, eschewing use of military force in international affairs.

China’s President Xi may not have talked about his dream --- what he calls the “China Dream”--- during his first “face-to-face” talks with U.S. President Obama, but some perceptive China watchers and analysts have written about its meaning and implications for all countries of the world.

A second issue to address is that, traditionally, there has been too little emphasis from China on public diplomacy efforts to reach out directly to foreign publics. Instead, Beijing has often placed emphasis, especially in Africa and the Middle East, on improving working relationships with strategically important governments through assistance programs that may not always serve the interest of local peoples. This is now changing. China has rapidly developed public diplomacy skills and policies. But more change is urgently needed if hearts and minds are to be won across the world.

American Councils for International Education is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Future Leaders Exchange (FLEX) program which is responsible for bringing over 22,000 international high school students to study in the U.S. American Councils is marking the occasion today by co-hosting a reception on Capitol Hill with Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs Ann Stock from the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.