ATP- arab tourism portal- Seychelles will be putting forth its creative industry policy at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) high level conference in Brussels. The country will be represented at the high level meeting being held June 5, by the principal secretary for culture Benjamine Rose.
She will present the final results, achievements and overall impact of the technical assistance missions carried out within the framework of UNESCO-EU Expert Facility Project ̶ Strengthening the system of Governance for Culture.
Seychelles received technical assistance from UNESCO in 2012 to develop its creative industries policy. Since then, there has been tremendous improvement in the country’s creative sector. The culture department has witnessed a surge in the creation of small events organising companies. New arts agencies have also been created by private individuals.
Out of this policy the Ministry of Tourism and Culture, through the culture department has been able to bring together countries in the region such as Mauritius, Madagascar, Seychelles in a week-long workshop entitled ̶ sub regional conference on the Management of Cultural and Creative Industries ̶ in December 2014, to discuss the creative industries policy and its benefits to private businesses in the promotion of cultural and artistic sustainable project.
The high level meeting at Brussels will give Seychelles the chance to present a beneficiary report of UNESCO’s technical assistance. This will take place during the first part of the meeting under the theme ̶ inclusion of culture in development programmes: opportunities and challenges.
Through exchanges and debates, this session will allow delegates to draw from lessons learnt in these four years of technical assistance, to reflect upon innovative modes of cooperation for development and outline prospects for future actions to ensure sustainability of the results obtained since 2012.
The second part of the meeting will be a high level discussion centred on the theme ‘ culture, a challenge for the post-2015 agenda’. This session will present the contributions of the two organisations to the discussions and debates on the inclusion of culture in the Post-2015 Development Agenda.
It is also good to note that the creative industries policy has been well integrated in the national land use plan of Victoria, being championed by the government of Seychelles.
Miss Rose said she is honoured to have been invited by UNESCO to take part in this debate and to discuss about the benefits and progress that our culture department has made in carrying out this policy.
“ I am sure that the outcome of this round table discussion will give our ministry a global perspective of the need to strengthen the system of governance for culture and the positive impact that sustainable cultural development can bring to one’s community and the country as a whole,” she said.
