Symposium on Cultural Diplomacy in Italy
"Italian Cultural Diplomacy & North-South Relations within the EU"
(Rome; June 12th – 14th, 2013)
The Symposium is hosted by the Honorable Francesco Rutelli, President of the ICD
www.italy-culturaldiplomacy-conference.org

Italy’s vast artistic and cultural heritage has allowed the country to use Cultural Diplomacy highly effectively as a foreign policy tool since its unification in the Eighteenth Century. As one of the founding member states of the European Union, Italy has typically been a key mediator in political and economic negotiations regarding integration within Europe. It has been called upon once again to take on this role during the current state of severe economic and political crises throughout the region.

The Symposium on Cultural Diplomacy in Italy will place emphasis on the ways in which the country has directly and indirectly used Cultural Diplomacy as a tool to improve its standing and relations with other countries, particularly with regard to its use of Cultural Diplomacy measures in past international negotiations, as well as the potential for its utilization in the future as a possible means of improving the financial state of the country.

Particular emphasis will be placed on the ability of successful Cultural Diplomacy tactics to ameliorate relations between Northern and Southern Europe in order to overcome the current economic and political crisis, as well as on how Cultural Diplomacy could be used internally to alleviate the long-standing Italian North-South Divide.

Symposium Participants
Participation in the Conference is open to governmental & diplomatic officials, academics, artists, journalists, civil society practitioners, private sector representatives, human rights activists, historians, young professionals, and students.

Symposium Speakers
Speakers during the Conference will include leading dignitaries, heads of state, ministers, politicians, diplomats, academics, authors, human rights activist, journalists, authors, and artists, as well as figures and experts from international politics, economics, the cultural sector, diplomacy, and civil society and private sector representatives from around the world. These speakers will include a large number of individuals from the ICD Advisory Board.