Statements on the Significance of Cultural Diplomacy

On this page you can find a selection of written statements reflecting on the significance of cultural diplomacy from ICD Advisory Board Members as well as close supporters of the ICD coming from different backgrounds, fields, cultures and countries.

CD Statement – The Role of Cultural Diplomacy in Today’s World

By Prof. Dr. Vasile Puscas (Former Romanian Minister for European Affairs – ICD Advisory Board Member)

Due to globalization, states can no longer exist individually. Therefore communication must also work horizontally between them, not just at political-diplomatic levels

Comment on Cultural Diplomacy

By Clive Myrie (Journalist, BBC)

There was no applause, just stunned silence.” The words of Jonathan Powell the Chief

Comment on Cultural Diplomacy

By John Hemming (Member of the British Parliament)

We should start with the definition of Cultural Diplomacy by the American political scientist and author, Milton C. Cummings, as:

Comment on Cultural Diplomacy

By Senator Larry Pressler (Former US Senator – ICD Advisory Board Member)

First of all, I want to thank the Institute for Cultural Diplomacy for what it is doing in advocating

Comment on Cultural Diplomacy

By Dr. Nazar al Baharna (Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bahrain – ICD Advisory Board Member)

“Out beyond ideas of wrong-doing and right-doing, there is a field. I will meet you there.”

Comment on Cultural Diplomacy

By Dr. Erkki Tuomioja (ICD Advisory Board Member - Finnish Foreign Minister)

What do we actually mean when talking about hard and soft power? The Wikipedia, the instantly accessed online encyclopedia, says

Comment on Cultural Diplomacy

By H.E Amb. Gebhardt von Moltke (ICD Advisory Board Member –Former German Ambassador to the UK and NATO)

Cultural diplomacy has been for long an important part of international relations.

Comment on Cultural Diplomacy

By H.E. Amb. Paula Dobriansky (Former under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs – ICD Advisory Board Member)

The USA Meets Europe’s (USAME) “Forum for Young Leaders”, supported by the Institute for Cultural Diplomacy, is a meaningful and productive program that empowers the next generation. As former Undersecretary of State for Democracy

Cultural Diplomacy & Business Relations

By Prof. Eric S. Maskin (Professor of Economics, Harvard University; USA; Nobel Prize Winner in Economics)

We know that different countries, because of their different cultures, do business differently, and for them to trade profitably with one another,

Cultural Diplomacy & Cross-Cultural Understanding

By H.E. Amb. Isaac Lamba (Ambassador of Malawi to Germany)

It is a critical role that Cultural Diplomacy plays [in multilateral trade negotiations, as it is through Cultural Diplomacy that we come to

Cultural Diplomacy & Freedom of Expression

By Prof. Gavin Phillipson (Professor, Durham Law School; UK)

There are people in Britain and other European countries that favor a much freer regime for the press, and there are scholars in America who are very critical of First Amendment jurisprudence.

Cultural Diplomacy & Human Rights

By Heather Blake (Head of Reporters Without Borders, UK)

“If you don’t have human rights- [in the sense] from the right to life to freedom of expression to freedom of press, if you don’t promote that and if you don’t have

Cultural Diplomacy & Identity

By The Hon. Charles Clarke (Former Home Secretary of the United Kingdom)

The core point about Cultural Diplomacy is the need for different groups of people

Cultural Diplomacy & Media

By Marta Cooper (Editorial Assistant, Index on Censorship)

I think absolutely, in terms of building bridges across the gulfs that divide people linguistically, and from the media point of view, helping

Cultural Diplomacy & Multiculturalism

By Ingrid Hönlinger (Member of the German Parliament)

For me, multiculturalism is not a threat, but a challenge. It’s not so easy

Cultural Diplomacy & Multilateral Trade Negotiations

By Dr. Mari Elka Pangestu (Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy of Indonesia; Former Minister of Trade)

I think Cultural Diplomacy plays a large role in overcoming challenges that arise in multilateral trade negotiations. ‘Soft power’ often does

Cultural Diplomacy & People Exchange

By The Hon. Said W. Musa (Former Prime Minister of Belize)

I certainly feel that exchange, people exchange- whether it’s in sports, entertainment

Cultural Diplomacy & Self-Liberation

By José António Pinto Ribeiro (Former Minister of Culture of Portugal)

It is important that we do not restrict Cultural Diplomacy to the diplomacy made by the diplomats of states or by international organizations.

Cultural Diplomacy & Sustainable Development

By Gerard Biraud (Former Chairman, Joint Inspection Unit, The United Nations)

Development, to be sustainable, has to work bottom-up, and it’s a multifaceted

Cultural Diplomacy & The Need for Common Understanding

By The Hon. Anna Diamantopoulou, Former European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs, and Equal Opportunities

Is it not enough to have greater political union or greater economic union: we need more understanding among people- we need to

Cultural Diplomacy & the UNESCO – A Perspective by ICD Advisory Board Member, Amb. Katalin Bogyay, President of UNESCO’s General Conference

A Perspective by ICD Advisory Board Member, Amb. Katalin Bogyay, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Hungary to the UN- New York( 2015-), Former President of UNESCO General Conference ( 2011- 2013) and Ambassador and Permanent Delegate of Hungary

"Cultural Diplomacy and the UNESCO" Center for Cultural Diplomacy Studies Publication Institute for Cultural

Cultural Diplomacy & Women

By Meg Jones (Women and Trade Program Development Manager, International Trade Center)

By definition, Cultural Diplomacy implies that there is going to be inclusivity in different cultures.

Cultural Diplomacy and the Interconnectivity of Digital Media

By Judy Muller (Journalist & Reporter for ABC, NBC, and NPR)

News literacy is the clearest path to breaking down all kinds of barriers.

Cultural Diplomacy as an Instrument for Integration & Peace

By Shahid Najam (United Nations Resident Coordinator in Turkey)

I’m a very firm believer in the use of culture as an effective, potent tool,

Cultural Diplomacy as an Instrumental Tool in Conflict Resolution

The Ankara Conference on Peace-building & Reconciliation 2012

I’m not saying that Cultural Diplomacy in itself will be the sole solution for peace between these countries, let’s say between Turkey and Armenia

Cultural Diplomacy as Dialogue between People, Countries and Civilizations

By H.E. Amb. Parviz Shahbazov, Ambassador of Azerbaijan to Germany

“Cultural Diplomacy for me is dialogue between people, countries, and civilizations.

Cultural diplomacy by The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC)

By EESC Vice President Anna Maria Darmanin

When I read Dr. Milton C. Cummings’s definition of cultural diplomacy “the exchange of ideas, information, values, systems, traditions, beliefs

Cultural Diplomacy for Successful Peace-building and Conflict Resolution

By H.E. Amb. Dr. Milan Jazbec (Ambassador of Slovenia to Turkey)

Culture is a universal concept. I would not imagine any peace building and conflict

Cultural Diplomacy in Combatting Extremism and Promoting Interaction

By H.E. Amb. Jean-Daniel Ruch (Special Representative for the Middle East, Foreign Ministry of Switzerland)

It is the task of the politicians and the leaders of the countries to make sure that no one in their own population is being left behind intellectually and emotionally.

Cultural Diplomacy in Combatting Xenophobia

By H.E. Amb. Craig Murray (Former British Ambassador to Uzbekistan)

The events of 9/11 have had a disastrous effect on reporting in the media, and in particular, they’ve led to a growing influence of a kind of ‘aggressive patriotism,’

Cultural Diplomacy in Effective Succession

The Ankara Conference on Peace-building & Reconciliation 2012

Cultural Diplomacy is a special part of the succession process of every country [to the EU]

Cultural Diplomacy in South Africa

By H.E. Amb. Vika M. Khumalo (Ambassador of the Republic of South Africa to Turkey)

A Comment on Cultural Diplomacy by H.E. Amb. Vika M. Khumalo (Ambassador of the Republic of South Africa to Turkey)

Cultural Diplomacy in the Contemporary World

By the ICD Advisory Board Member the Hon. Alan Ferguson (Former President of the Australian Senate; Former Senator from South Australia)

Many commentators believe that the importance of cultural diplomacy

Cultural Diplomacy, Building Resilience, and Sustainable Development

By Siddharth Chatterjee (Chief Diplomat, International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent)

For me, the bottom line is building resilience. That is about building sustainable development- building resilience

Cultural Diplomacy, Exposure, and Human Rights

By H.E. Amb. Luvuyo Ndimeni (Minister-Plenipotentiary, Deputy Permanent Representative of South Africa to the United Nations)

The question of mobility, employment, and solidarity is very much one of depending our mutual understanding.

Cultural Diplomacy, Religion, and Multiculturalism

By H.E. Amb. Ian Biggs (Australian Ambassador to Turkey)

The first requirement for successful diplomacy in any region is for people to understand each other. Religion has oft been misused in the Middle East

Cultural Diplomacy: Building Trust and Building Bridges

By Cecile Molinier (Director, UNDP Office in Geneva)

If I understood correctly, Cultural Diplomacy is about building trust and building bridges, and this is precisely what we are good at doing

Cultural Diplomats Of All Countries Unite!

By Dr. Jacques F. Poos (Former Deputy Prime minister of Luxemburg – ICD Advisory Board Member)

Analysing the fundamental changes which occurred during the past eleven years of this new century

Education & Cultural Diplomacy

By Hassan Diab (Minister of Education & Higher Education of Lebanon)

Curriculum reform in education systems should cater for the needs of the 21st

Goodwill Message

BY PRINCE ADETOKUNBO KAYODE, SAN, HONOURABLE MINISTER, FEDERAL MINISTRY OF TOURISM, CULTURE AND NATIONAL ORIENTATION

The Ministry of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation from Nigeria sends its greeting on this occasion of the international Symposium on Cultural Diplomacy

Importance of Cultural Diplomacy

By Selmo Cikotić (Former Minister of Defense of Bosnia & Herzgovina – ICD Advisory Board Member)

Cultural diplomacy plays an important role in the modern world.

Leveraging Culture and Diplomacy in the Age of Information

By The Hon. Tara D. Sonenshine (Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, US State Department)

When we bridge cultures, we don’t just enshrine what people treasure, we build richer, more diverse, and mutually trusting partnerships for the future. And that makes Cultural Diplomacy an essential tool for the 21st Century.

On Cultural Diplomacy: a brief statement on the cultural diplomacy in the contemporary world

By Dr. Zvonimir Paul Separovic (Former minister of foreign affairs and minister of justice, Republic of Croatia – ICD Advisory Board Member)

Cultural diplomacy means, in the first place, efforts to promote global peace and stability through strengthening and supporting intercultural relations, to facilitate interaction between

Perspectives on Cultural Diplomacy

By The Hon. Masaharu Nakagawa, Former Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan

The Berlin Inaugural Event of the Cross Continental Cooperation Summit

Statement about Cultural Diplomacy

By the President of the ICD Young Leaders Forums, the Hon. Yasar Yakis (Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey)

There is not yet a universally recognized definition of the cultural diplomacy. The concept existed since the olden times but it did not become an independent discipline of its own until a few decades ago.

The Importance of Cultural Diplomacy

By the Vice Chairman of the ICD Advisory Board Erna Hennicot Schoepges (Former Minister of Culture of Luxembourg)

Whether the emerging European Dream can offer an alternative vision more able to accommodate the tumultuous changes occurring in

The Importance of Cultural Diplomacy in Resolving Conflict

By Ceren Mutuş Toprakseven (Researcher, Center for Middle Eastern & African Studies, International Strategic Research Organization; Turkey)

Culture is one of the main tools to resolve conflicts, because if you let states solve problems

The Importance of Education in Cultural Diplomacy

By Martha J. Kanter (Under Secretary of Education, US State Department)

The kind of trust we are going to build with countries around the world is going to be critical, and education has got to be the tool for Cultural Diplomacy.

The Many Facets of Diplomacy: Cultural, Corporate, Public, and Citizen

By Jerry Edling (Editor in Chief, “PD” Magazine, University of Southern California; USA)

Companies are becoming more adept at acting globally- they have to be.

The Potential Use of Sport as Cultural Diplomacy

By H.E. Amb. Makhenkesi Arnold Stofile (Ambassador of South Africa to Germany)

Cultural Diplomacy has done a lot, but not enough. If you look back to the Rugby World Cup in 1995, one of the areas of struggle was

The Spread of Information and Education through Cultural Diplomacy

By Aldona Z. Wos (Former US Ambassador to Estonia)

Cultural Diplomacy has been in practice for many centuries, and the role of Cultural Diplomacy has really never been more important than it is currently.

The Use of Culture as an Educational Tool

The International Symposium on Cultural Diplomacy in the USA 2012

Public Diplomacy and Cultural Diplomacy can help people understand the context of America

What is Cultural Diplomacy to you?

By Deirdre Shurland, Senior Consultant, UN Environnent Program

“In my line of work, tourism, there are a number of heritage type resources, relics of the past, natural areas that are so significant from an ecological stand point, which may have served as particular…