Madame Chairperson
H. E. Mr. Gilberto Gil Moreira, Minister of Culture, Brazil.
Your Excellencies, Ministers of Culture.
Distinguished delegates.
Ladies and Gentlemen.

I would also like to express myself in my home language, which is Xhosa, but there would be no translation. I would like to thank UNESCO for this initiative and also thank the organisers for inviting our delegation from South Africa to participate in this conference.

I would like to apologise on behalf of my Minister, Dr Z Pallo Jordan, who could not attend this conference due to other engagements. The Minister, as well as the South African Government send their good wishes for a successful conference.

South Africa has always wanted to position itself as a positive contributor to international efforts aimed at the social and economic development of the global community particularly the developing countries. Our ten-year celebration motto: “A people united for a better South Africa and a better World” attempted to capture this. South Africa strongly believes that the development and promotion of creative industries will certainly narrow the gap between what we refer to as the First and Second Economy.

Our delegation has identified and noted with great interest the possible areas of participation in the ICCI. A strong recommendation will be made to the South African government to participate and support this commendable initiative.

South Africa would be very willing to effectively enrich the process by participating in the Advisory Committee on the ICCI, while exploring with other partners the needs of the ICCI and how they can be addressed.

South Africa already has a special relationship with Brazil. The Current Letter of Intent between South Africa and Brazil, as well as the India, Brazil and South Africa (IBSA) Agreement are indicative of South Africa’s commitment to international partnerships to enhance the role of the creative industries and the arts in general in addressing social and economic development. These agreements will provide a framework of cooperation to enhance the contribution of culture to the economies of the countries involved, protection of intellectual property and copyrights and enhancement of the creative industries to alleviate poverty and create jobs.

We would strongly agree with H. E. Mr. Carlos Lopes, the UN Resident Representative in Brazil that any advancement in technology should address the Millennium Development Goals and should therefore be demystified

We must enhance existing technologies for capturing national and international data, by possibly combining existing technologies and instruments, and interlinking the various national systems. An example in the South African context is creating links between the Cultural Observatory and the Business Referral and Information Network (BRAIN).

We should explore how the various national systems can be linked in a massive ‘global cultural observatory’ and the ICCI provides the perfect opportunity.

I would like to thank the organizers for the opportunity to participate in this exciting initiative of shaping the creation of the International Centre on Creative Industries.

We will certainly enjoy Brazil and Bahia in particular.

Thank you.

back to top