Then the question is going to come up, people said this is sport and not politics, but everyone knows the sport is part of any public diplomacy program that any country takes these days, especially like the Olympics - the UK is going to benefit from the Olympics to promote the culture, the politics, what have you.

At USC on April 6, the Association of Public Diplomacy Scholars held a conference on the Future of Public Diplomacy. Experts, academics, and practitioners gathered to discuss what lies ahead for the field of public diplomacy. There were a couple of major takeaways from the conference.

The Empowering Women and Girls Through Sports Initiative builds on Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s vision of “smart power,” which embraces the use of a full range of diplomatic tools – in this case, the game of soccer – to bring people together and foster understanding.

Tthe US Peace Corps is reopening operations in Tunisia. The first group of volunteers is scheduled to arrive this year and their assignments will focus on English language training and youth skills development in order to help prepare Tunisian students and professionals for future employment.

America’s image abroad remains strong, retaining its post-Bush worldwide increase in 2009. But in new survey data released here this morning by Gallup, the U.S. has lost significant support in the past year in Africa and Latin America.

WASHINGTON --- America’s image abroad remains strong, retaining its post-Bush worldwide increase in 2009. But in new survey data released here this morning by Gallup, the U.S. has lost significant support in the past year in Africa and Latin America.

The Department of State is well on the way to meeting the President’s goals of increasing visitor visa processing capacity in China and Brazil by 40 percent in 2012...The State Department is committed to facilitating travel to the United States as part of broader “Jobs Diplomacy” goals. Visas for legitimate travelers are an important tool to help accelerate America’s economic revival.