Prime Minister Narendra Modi had pushed Buddhism diplomacy during his recent trip to Hanoi. India had announced special annual scholarships for Vietnamese students in advanced Buddhist studies at Masters/Doctoral level and scholarships of a year for study of Sanskrit at Indian institutes for Buddhist Sangha members.  

n sync with PM Narendra Modi government’s religion diplomacy, which plays a pivotal role in its foreign policy, India has offered help to Vietnam to restore a Hindu temple in the country belonging to the Champ civilisation. The diplomacy comes at a time when Modi is visiting Vietnam capital Hanoi. The Myson temple has a striking resemblance to Indian temples built during the same period.

The heads of missions of five Asean countries based in Dubai met in a networking event for the first time with leaders of their communities on Monday to discuss future areas of collaboration [...] “As a community, you need really to have a very good people-to-people interaction. What’s more important is this is our first public diplomacy programme by all the Asean consuls” Yousuf said.
 

In the last two or three years, there have been positive social changes in the culture industry. Viet Nam has taken advantage of the UN cultural agency UNESCO’s convention on the protection and promotion of diversity 2005 to promote the culture industry in the country. [...] I believe when people understand that cultural potential is itself a major sector of the economy, the culture industry will become a soft power of Viet Nam in the world.

The culture industry is not only a money-spinner for a country, but is possibly a major sector that boosts the economy. Bùi Hoài Sơn, deputy head of the Việt Nam Institute of Culture and Arts Studies (VICAS), said this, while speaking about the development of the culture industry in Việt Nam in recent years.

We write on the occasion of the forthcoming 13th Australia-Vietnam human rights dialogue, scheduled to be held in Vietnam in August 2016. Australia should raise pressing human rights issues in an unambiguous manner, set clear benchmarks for improvements, and make the outcome of the discussions public.

The Hà Nội Ensemble is a group of young artists and lecturers from the Việt Nam National Academy of Music, which was established in 2010. Members of the group have studied in Việt Nam and other prestigious conservatories of music around the world. They have won many reputable music awards, as well as participated in concerts, music festivals and cultural exchange programmes both domestically and internationally.
 

The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) yesterday said that its annual summer camp is to promote exchanges between Taiwanese students and their counterparts from Singapore, Indonesia and Vietnam. The program is to bring together 50 university students to discuss regional development and cooperation, the AIT said.