Pakistan enjoys cordial relations with European countries because North America, the EU and the Middle East have been major components of Pakistan’s economic and diplomatic gains and investments. However, there is a dire need for broad-based public diplomacy in Eastern European countries as every independent state has analogous diplomatic weightage on the international horizon and also because Pakistani culture has plenty of similarities with Eastern European cultures.

This year, Pakistan and Germany are celebrating the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations, and Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has just concluded his successful visit to Berlin.

Being a Pakistani student doing my Ph.D. in Czech Republic Prague, I appreciate that European countries are investing on foreign students like me for providing an academic and professional cadre to Pakistani society. The Czech-Pak diplomatic relations are quite mature, established in 1950 by former Czechoslovakia and re-established by the Czech Republic in 1991 (as part of Czechoslovakia and since 1993 in its own right). This year, it would be 20 years for Pak-Czech bilateral relations and Pakistan should consider holding special events to celebrate before the forthcoming 20th anniversary of its bilateral relations with Czechia—the newly popular and short name for the Czech Republic. The new short name was approved by the Czech cabinet on May 2, 2016 and registered on July 5, 2016.

The economic and social growth of Czechia is exceptional in Eastern Europe; a country that became independent in 1993 was recognised by the World Bank as a “developed country” in 2006—a journey of thousands of miles was covered in just 13 years. In 2009, the Human Development Index (HDI) ranked Czechia as a nation of “Very High Human Development”.

Pakistan has an embassy in Prague that is always helpful for Pakistani students studying in Prague and has great potential to introduce Pakistani culture and traditions in Czechia. During my stay in Prague, I feel that students of this country are very much interested in Eastern (Východní) cultures and Pakistan has sufficient opportunities of attracting these important strata of society through engagements in public diplomacy. Another important point is that what Pakistani students can pay back to countries like Czechia which provide us immense opportunities for research and education and host us with respect and friendly smiles?

I believe that students like me can play a pivotal role in promoting Czechia in Pakistan and Pakistan in Czechia and can be an important bridge between the two countries and can also play their role in public diplomacy. Czechia has too much to offer to Pakistan in the field of arts and culture. It has a rich history of performing arts. The Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (or FAMU) is one of the best in the world. Established in 1946 as one of three branches of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, it is the fifth oldest film school in the world. The teaching language on most courses at FAMU is Czech, but FAMU also runs certain courses in English. The school has repeatedly been included on lists of the best film schools in the world.

Another opportunity for students and the Pakistani industry of film and theatre is to find collaboration with institutions like the Academy of Performing Arts (AMU) that was established in October 1945.

Specialising in the study of music, dance, drama, film, television and multimedia, the academy consists of three faculties: a Film and TV School (FAMU); Music and Dance Faculty (HAMU) and a Theatre Faculty (DAMU) offering bachelors, masters, and doctoral level courses, as well as conducting artistic research, and in some departments also research in art history and theory.

Since Pakistan has performing arts schools and institutions, student exchange programmes, reeling Pakistani films, dramas and collaborating in the theatre industry are available opportunities for Pakistan to introduce Pakistani culture as a part of public diplomacy in Czechia because Pakistan has a strong corps of career diplomats and inspiring professionals in the field of performing arts to place Pakistan on the map as a country of rich culture. The tools are available—there is just a need for a decision and commitment by the people in power to execute public diplomacy in Czechia.

Shazia Anwer Cheema
The writer heads the Thought Centre of the Dispatch News Desk (DND). She is a Ph.D. Scholar of Semiotics and Philosophy of Communi-cation at Charles University Prague. She tweets 
@Shazia
AnwerCh and can be reached at shaziaanwer
@yahoo.com