The Girija Prasad Koirala Foundation for Democracy Peace and Development, Kathmandu successfully organized a one day talk program on “Soft Power and Public Diplomacy” on the occasion of the 90th birth anniversary of former President of Nepalese Congress Party and Prime-Minister Girija Prasad Koirala at Hotel Shankar, Lazimpat on 10th July, 2013.
Participants representing intellectuals, professionals and journalists actively participated in this program. The chief guests were from Macquarie University, Australia – Prof. Naren Chitty and Prof. John Simon. Both distinguished Professors facilitated the floor discussion and Prof. Naran Chitty presented a paper on the very issue of soft power and public diplomacy.
The talk program was chaired by Sujata Koirala, Chairperson of the GP Koirala Foundation. The conference was hosted by Ambassador Dr. Dinesh Bhatterai, Vice-Chairman of GPKF, and Mr. Rakesh Hamal. Former Ambassador Dr. Shambhu Ram Shimkhda, Member of the Secretariat of the Special Committee for SIR of the MACs and board Member of the GPK Foundation welcomed the guests and participants. A floor discussion session was conducted for an hour where participants interacted with the guests from Australia regarding the issue. Closing remarks were made by program chair Sujata Koirala.