The ‘Cultural Diversity Ministerial Forum of the Asia-Pacific Region’ 12’, jointly organised by ministry of cultural affairs and UNESCO, concluded successfully with the receiving the Dhaka Declaration, by the participating countries on Friday.
‘Dhaka Declaration’ states that the political will and engagement that exists in the Asia-Pacific region should be strengthen regional cultural cooperation in order to
bring forth sustainable and human development as expressed in various sub-regional commitments.
The convention decided to adopt policy objectives like, integrating culture into sustainable development programmes; promoting participatory governance for culture;
collecting and sharing information to promote the diversity of cultural expressions; strengthening the cultural and creative industries and also encouraging cultural
exchange and cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region.
The ‘Dhaka Declaration’ also called upon UNESCO to assist efforts to implement the convention throughout Asia and the Pacific. It also called upon to raise awareness
of the 2005 Convention among Asia and Pacific countries, aimed at increasing ratification as well as facilitating its implementation by the Parties.
Facilitation for the collection and sharing of information and best practices on measures and activities to promote the diversity of cultural expressions also called
upon in the convention.
Moreover, the convention called upon to foster regional cooperation among networks of professionals working in the fields of cultural and creative industries. The
convention decided to take all appropriate measures to ensure the widest possible dissemination of this Declaration.
Six seminars on the protection and promotion of cultural diversity in the Asia Pacific region was held during the three-day conference at the Hotel Ruposhi Bangla at
Shahbag, Dhaka.
Apart from the seminars, an exhibition on the cultural diversity of Bangladesh was also organised at the Hotel Ruposhi Bangla, during the conference. Beside this,
cultural programmes with participation from artistes of the participating countries were organised at Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy.
In 2005, UNESCO approved the ‘Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, 2005″, in order to protect and promote the Cultural
Diversity of all the countries in the world. Bangladesh re-signed the Convention in 2007.
A total number of 123 countries of the world have already re-signed the Convention, so far. The number of participating countries in the Convention from the Asia-
pacific region is poor. Among the 44 countries in this region, a total 12 countries including Bangladesh have re-signed the convention so far. As one of the countries
re-signed the convention at the primary stage, Bangladesh has organised the ‘cultural diversity convention of the Asia-Pacific region’, with a view to encourage other
countries from this region to re-sign the convention.
-With New Age input
