Public Diplomacy | Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic

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Public Diplomacy [JB emphasis]

The Public Diplomacy Department was established at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic in 2011 to engage and communicate with the general public both at home and abroad. The core purpose – to promote the Czech Republic’s image and raise its profile internationally – is listed as one of the policy goals in the new Czech foreign policy concept introduced in June 2015. The role of public diplomacy is to help advance broader diplomatic goals by means of promotional and cultural activities, educational exchanges and support of partnerships between Czech and foreign NGOs. The key actors in public diplomacy work are Czech embassies coordinated by the Public Diplomacy Department.

Our policy to promote the Czech Republic’s image concentrates on several core topics: sports (an ever popular topic); Czech history (milestones and leading personalities); and Czech music, film and theatre. In putting this policy into action we rely on our important partnership with Czech Centres - a network created to promote Czech culture and build the image of the Czech Republic as a modern and creative country with rich cultural traditions. The Czech Centres network receives part of its funding from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

We also reach out to the general public at home and seek to engage people in the foreign policy debate and to improve general awareness of our own country’s foreign policy positions and activities. In this area our major partner is the Institute of International Relations, an independent public research institution. One of our tasks in this area is to provide practical and useful information to citizens.

Public diplomacy needs to be supported by public outreach activities such as conferences and workshops. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Czech embassies sponsor or co-sponsor a programme of outreach events using grant schemes and other resources.

We work with a wide range of partners whose assistance is crucial to effective public diplomacy at home and abroad: government agencies (such as the CzechTourism promotion agency), NGOs, Czech communities worldwide, companies, research and academic communities, interest groups, as well as partner countries and international organizations. ...