First American citizen diplomacy conference since President Eisenhower highlights efforts by China, Japan, Turkey, UK, Germany, France and Poland
Washington, DC (16 November) – The heads of seven international cultural diplomacy organizations will gather in Washington on Thursday to share best practices with the U.S. during the U.S. Summit & Initiative for Global Citizen Diplomacy as convened by the U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy in partnership with the U.S. Department of State.
While the U.S. Information Agency was dissolved, many other countries have expanded or created their own central cultural organizations. During a plenary luncheon and roundtable discussions, the following leaders will explain how their organizations improve international trust through the arts, education, foreign language instruction, and international exchanges:
Madam Xu Lin, who heads China’s Confucius Institute, said, “Through cultural interactions, we can better understand each other’s thoughts and emotions. This is an effective way to avoid conflict, resolve international disputes and promote world peace. The Ping Pong diplomacy, which broke the ice in China-US relations, is a typical case in point. During the 31st World Table Tennis Championships held in March 1971 in Nagoya, Japan, Chinese and American players showed their friendship towards each other and helped materialize President Nixon’s visit to China.”
The head of Germany’s Goethe Institut, Christoph Bartmann, said, “Citizen diplomacy can certainly contribute to security and it helps prevent or resolve conflicts through mutual knowledge and understanding. To take Germany as an example: American reeducation programs after World War II are probably one of the most successful examples for citizen diplomacy in history. Germany learned a lot from this lesson, and it followed the American example by creating a lot of institutions and initiatives that are committed to citizen diplomacy and cultural relations.”
After World War II, President Eisenhower convened a citizen diplomacy summit to encourage people-to-people diplomacy, ushering in new international visitor and cultural exchange programs and setting the stage for the emergence of the Fulbright Program and Peace Corps. The US Center for Citizen Diplomacy’s week-long summit follows up on Eisenhower’s conference and will launch a "Decade of Citizen Diplomacy" with a goal to double the number of American citizen diplomats by 2020.
Martin Davidson, Chief Executive of the British Council, which has convened the international delegation and is moderating the sessions, said “The British Council is very pleased to partner with the USCCD on this initiative. The importance of building relationships that highlight both our shared human aspirations, and celebrate the cultural diversity in which these aspirations are articulated, has been core to the British Council's mission for the last 76 years.”
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CONTACT: For more information, please contact Samantha Yale at (202) 588 – 7838 or samantha.yale@britishcouncil.org.
About the British Council: The British Council is the United Kingdom’s international non-profit organization for cultural relations and education opportunities. Working in over 100 countries, we build engagement and trust for the UK through the exchange of knowledge and ideas between people worldwide. In the US, we cultivate long-term links between the UK and US, re-energizing the strategic transatlantic relationship through the arts, education and young leadership networks.
The United Kingdom’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities.
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