The UNESCO world conference on cultural policies and sustainable development, Mondialcult, opened on Monday 29 September for three days.
As a preamble to this year’s event, hosted by the Spanish government in Barcelona, the European Commissioner for Culture, Glenn Micallef, welcomed the fact that the ministers of the 194 Member States of the UN organisation recognised culture as a “public good”.
He also reaffirmed his role “in supporting multilateralism and promoting peaceful solutions”, a task that is all the more important in the “current context of geopolitical tensions”.
The definition of the global agenda for culture, the objective of the event, resonates, as the Commissioner pointed out, with the vision of the European Union, that “considers the protection of cultural diversity” - which it aims to ensure through its Creative Europe programme and its future Cultural Compass (see EUROPE 13617/7) - as “essential to peace and security”.
Glenn Micallef also pointed out that this aspiration, in line with the 2005 UNESCO Convention, cannot be transformed “into concrete action” without the support of international cooperation.
The “partnership with UNESCO is vital”, he declared.
Until Wednesday 1 October, the UNESCO ministerial forum - where the first world report on the state of culture will be presented - devoted this year to artificial intelligence, will be an opportunity to develop joint solutions to ensure that the use of AI fully respects artists’ rights.
To see the programme: https://aeur.eu/f/ins (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)