Iran is seeking to forge ties between its top universities and those in the Philippines through “scientific diplomacy” that the Middle East country believes will facilitate the exchange and development of scientific knowledge between the two countries.

In 2016 YFU announced the creation of a Virtual Exchange Initiative to expand on its mission to advance intercultural understanding, mutual respect, and social responsibility through educational exchanges for youth, families, and communities.The pilot program encourages online open dialogue among teenagers in the US and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). 

In the midst of all this turmoil, Arab diplomacy has been strangely absent. Some Arab countries have been providing military support for different protagonists in different conflicts, notably in Libya, Yemen, and in the war against terrorism in Syria and Iraq. Where, however, is Arab diplomacy? What diplomatic efforts are being made in every one of these cases are being led by non-Arabs or non-Arab organizations.

In the Middle East, governments and non-state actors alike have tried all forms of diplomacy to solve the challenges they face, with mixed results: shuttle diplomacy by the United States between the Israelis and Palestinians worked for a time, great-power diplomacy over the Syrian civil war largely hasn’t, and direct negotiations with unsavory groups like the Taliban have moved in fits and starts. 

Private efforts at gastrodiplomacy have also sprouted, including metro Detroit's own Peace Meal Kitchen, a newly launched pop-up dining and education series that highlights cultures from countries with which the U.S. is in conflict.

It's a crisis that has spiraled out of control with more than 65 million people now called refugees around the globe. As hundreds of young socially conscious innovators from around the globe meet in the Silicon Valley this week with investors seeking to back their projects at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES), one unique organisation is seeking to tackle the unfolding disaster by reframing the entire way those fleeing their countries because of war or persecution are treated.

Now, acting as the US State Department's Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, Stengel sat down with AJ+ presenter Dena Takuri on Wednesday to discuss the Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES). The gathering brings together more than 1,000 young innovators, investors, and government officials with the goal of establishing socially and environmentally conscious businesses around the world.