Significance of Cultural Diplomacy

• Understanding Each Other: It involves an attempt to promote values and image of a country amongst other foreign audiences as well as try to understand values, culture and image of other countries and their people.
• Interaction Amongst One Another: Through cultural diplomacy, governments of various countries can increase their respect and understanding amongst other countries of the world.
• People to People Contact: There are many benefits of cultural diplomacy programs. For e.g. cultural diplomacy programs can create forums for interaction between people of different countries, thus laying the ground for the forging friendships and strong connections between people of different nationalities.
• Trust Factor: Cultural diplomacy helps create a “foundation of trust” with other peoples. Policy makers can build on this trust to create political, economic, and military agreements.
• Removes Ignorance: Cultural diplomacy programs can also act as a deterrent against ignorance and baseless hatred that people in other countries may bear towards a certain country.
• Helping Each Other: Cultural diplomacy can also help to advance the interests of other countries, not just the interests of the country carrying out the diplomacy. The cultural diplomacy of India, for instance, “with its heavy focus on providing scholarships to students from neighbouring countries to study in India, serves to advance India’s interests and those of its neighbours, as well as the interests of the students themselves.”
• Individual Promotion: Cultural diplomacy incorporates activities undertaken by, or involving, a wide range of participants such as artists, singers and so on, but also the manifestations of their artistry (such as a film), the promotion of aspects of the culture of a state (language, for instance), and the exchange of people, such as academics.

Areas to Improve

India needs to invest more in its equivalent cultural institute, the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), or create a newer, more youth-oriented institute. It wouldn’t hurt to also come up with a more memorable brand name.

• India most certainly needs a world-class museum on par with the great museums of the world; the museum should be a repository for South Asia’s treasures, but also seek artifacts from all over the world. The museum should cater to both an international and domestic audience.
• India should invest more in sports, and not only for the sake of winning more medals at the Olympics. As a large, topographically diverse country, it should encourage both domestic and international visitors, to partake in activities that they would otherwise have to fly to Europe or America for. For example, India has extensive mountain slopes and some skiing ranges, but it is not widely known as a skiing range. Like Iran, India can develop a major skiing culture, attracting would-be skiers from neighboring, warmer third-world countries in the Middle East and Southeast Asia.
• India makes more movies a year than any other country and Bollywood films are popular throughout the Middle East and Central Asia. Yet, India has done little to convert this love of its movies (and songs) into a desire for people to go to India or learn more about it (like the way Japan has used anime to promote itself throughout the world). India needs better, more consistent marketing; it isn’t enough for the Prime Minister to travel the world to bring attention to India.