A significant part of cultural contacts that occurred between nations and countries has always been "multilateral" and took organised forms many hundred years ago: the Roman Catholic Church offering an excellent early example. Yet, obviously, by 'culture and the international organisations' one associates to the modern world set-up that was created in the middle of the past century. This survey therefore begins with the review of the role of the UN family and similar global apparatuses, in international cultural relations; and it concludes by where the emphasis has shifted in the last decades - the cultural cooperation of non-governmental organisations.

Besides the United Nations Organisation proper, several other global agencies include cultural items in their remits, like the United Nations Development Programme, United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the World Intellectual Property Organisation, the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT) and the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM). The largest space is of course dedicated to the discussion of UNESCO, the specialised cultural agency of the UN, which - largely thanks to its dynamic advocacy of cultural diversity - seems to be again on the ascent.

The World Bank putting cultural issues on its agenda is a recent development; another big game in the arena of business, the World Trade Organisation has had a controversial role in the field of international cultural relationships.

The next section of the study covers European regional organisations. The Council of Europe is the par excellence agency for cultural diplomacy of the continent. Therefore, its role in the preparation and monitoring of major international legal instruments as well as its cultural projects are presented. The process of the EU enlargement has overshadowed the mission of the Council of Europe, together with the cooperation with the remaining, non-accession part of Europe. Obviously, the role of the European Union in cultural foreign relations is treated at due length, from the famous Article 151 of the Amsterdam Treaty to the Culture 2000 programme.

East-central Europe is not particularly rich in active sub-regional cooperation. However, the Visegrad Four and the Central European Initiative are duly presented, followed by a brief glance at the cultural functions of regional organisations on other continents.

The chapter on international non-governmental organisations shows the historical phases, from the creation of now classical world cultural associations and federations like the International PEN or the International Publishers Association, through the ones established at more or less the same time as Unesco (International Council of Museums, International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, International Theatre Institute etc.).

The survey ends with the discussion of the multifaceted phenomenon of the fast expansion of looser structures of cultural collaboration, especially cultural networks, and the growing influence of private or semi-private foundations, presenting the most representative specimens of both clusters.

The main conclusion of the survey is that organised cultural foreign relations have been diversifying at an increasing pace. This kind of activity used to took place within the frames of a limited number of organisations; by now cultural foreign relations have become the subject of extremely many actors, have acquired very flexible forms, due to the explosive improvement in the conditions of global communication, and also owing to the growing importance of the cultural factor. The result is a paradoxical situation: on the one hand official diplomacy has lost influence on international cultural relationships, on the other though we witness the strengthening of the cultural component in the bi- and multilateral foreign relations. During their education, next to the actual management of cultural relations, future diplomats have to be trained in the skills of getting oriented in the diversified international cultural arena, and of identifying the best means of using and influencing cultural foreign relations among the changed circumstances.

This is the summary of a study prepared by the Budapest Cultural Observatory for the Teleki László Institute in Budapest in May 2003. The full paper is in Hungarian, in the length of about 10 000 words. The annex contains the list of legal instruments pertinent to culture and born under the aegis of one or othe international organisation.