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(27/09/10) Culture – an instrument in achievement of the Millennium Development Goals
Culture has a key role to play in reaching the development goals, concluded participants at a roundtable discussion opened by UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova at the Millennium Summit in New York on Tuesday 21 September 2010.
The event was co-chaired by African Union Chairman Jean Ping, UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova EU Commissioner for Development of the European Commission Andris Piebalgs, who ahead of the High-Level Round Table on Culture and Development, signed an agreement with UNESCO for a €1 million Expert Facility to support governance of the cultural sector. This facility will allow the governments of developing countries to take advantage of experts' knowledge in developing effective and sustainable cultural policies. It will contribute to implementation of the 2005 UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions
Funds allocated by the European Union to Culture within its Development policy are growing. From the €155 million allocated for the ACP countries during the period 1990-2007, this figure has increased to around €200 millions for the period 2007-2013.
The cultural sector contributed to nearly 3% of the aggregate European GDP. Considered that the contribution of real estate activities is 2.1%, the food, beverage and tobacco industries 1.9%, and the textile industry 0.5%, it is clear that culture is a sector that needs to be taken into account in the fight against poverty.
In Mali, for example, the cultural sector employs around 115.000 people, which is about 6% of the economically active population in the country.
Keynote addresses were delivered by the two chairmen, as well as President Wade of Senegal and Bosnian President Silajdzic. They were followed by a lively discussion with the audience composed of high level representatives of intergovernmental institutions from the World Bank, UNDP, ADB and the UNF and of Member States and Parliamentarians, as well as the media.
“Over the past decade, we have seen a welcome new trend evolving, mainly in developing countries,” Irina Bokova said. “I am speaking about culture as an economic driver: a creator of jobs and revenues; a means of making poverty eradication strategies relevant and more effective at the local level.”
The power of culture to drive development was also underscored by Jean Ping who announced the launching of a two-year regional campaign for the Renaissance of African Cultures intended to promote regional integration building on the wealth of African’s cultural diversity and the dynamism of the cultural sector in Africa.
President Wade called for eradicating from within potential harmful cultural practices that still tend to incorrectly demonstrate that culture can be an obstacle to development. Senegal would launch, he said, a country-wide initiative to support capacity-building of African cultural industries that are particularly dynamic, so as to develop economic outlets towards a sustainable cultural industry and asked for UNESCO’s support in this endeavor.
“Culture is instrumental in reaching the MDGs,” European Commissioner Piebalgs affirmed while announcing a one million Euros strategic EU/UNESCO partnership to improve the system of governance for culture in developing countries, striking the balance between social and economic interests. He stressed the need to strengthen regulatory and institutional frameworks for the promotion of cultural industries. The need to foster data collection on the impact of the culture sector on the socio-economic development was called for as well as the need to assess MDG indicators from a cultural perspective.
Haris Silajdzic, President of Bosnia and Herzegovina stressed the importance of intercultural dialogue and respect for cultural diversity to achieve development in conflict-affected countries. Without these crucial elements no sustainable and long-lasting peace can be achieved he said.
UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova pointed out that while culture is not explicitly referred to in the 8 Millennium Development Goals, this week’s Summit in New York provides a unique opportunity to “right the helm”.
