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Vow to protect and promote cultural diversity of the Asia-Pacific

Cultural Ministerial Forum of the region ends with Dhaka Declaration

Jamil Mahmud
The three-day Cultural Diversity Ministerial Forum of the Asia-Pacific Region ended on May 11 with the "Dhaka Declaration on the Diversity of Cultural Expressions”. Organised jointly by the Ministry of Cultural Affairs and UNESCO, the Forum saw the declaration at the concluding ceremony held at Hotel Ruposhi Bangla. Cultural Minister Abul Kalam Azad read out the paper in presence of the delegates and journalists. The paper contains a vow to protect and promote cultural diversity of the Asia-Pacific.
Appreciating the initiative undertaken by Bangladesh for promoting the diversity of cultural expressions in the Asia-Pacific region, the ministers and representatives from 33 regional nations unanimously agreed with the tenets of the declaration that recognised the growing economic contribution of cultural and creative industries in the region.
The declaration highlighted some policies for the Asia-Pacific region: "integrating culture into sustainable development programmes”, “promoting participatory governance for culture", "collecting and sharing information to promote the diversity of cultural expressions” and "strengthening cultural and creative industries".
The three-day forum, inaugurated by the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, on May 9, encompassed six Plenary Sessions. Apart from other issues, the sessions discussed on how to create a space for the civil society groups to play active roles for development. The primary focus was to uphold basic human
rights through cultural expressions.
Irina Bokova, director general, UNESCO was in Dhaka to attend the forum. Emphasising on the cooperation of the governments, civil societies, cultural actors, and others concerned to create a fresh momentum for operation of the forum, the DG of UNESCO said, ‘"Diming the forum into a success is the responsibility of all. We will urge the government officials to disseminate our message at home and at the international level.”
Charles Vallerand, executive director, International Federation of Coalition for Cultural Diversity (IFCCD) saw the forum as a platform for artists and societies to promote cultural expressions in future.
"Culture holds the key to social change and the development of our societies. Strong policies are needed more than ever to ensure that citizens can also produce and access their own cultural expressions,” said Vallerand.
While Vallerand felt the need of participatory governance for culture, Professor Syed Jamil Ahmed, Department of Theatre, University of Dhaka went further and spoke about grassroots-level involvement for cultural development.
In his paper “Recognising, Engaging, Celebrating Diversity of Cultural Expressions: An Articulation from Bangladesh”, Professor Ahmed focused on the development that should go with “ 'recognising' minoritarian-becoming; 'engaging' into argument and becoming interlocked with majoritarian narrative of the nation, and by 'celebrating' the creativity of the people”.
Other important issues such as the role of women as well as the hopes, opportunities and challenges were discussed in other plenary sessions.
Among 44 Asia-Pacific nations, representatives from 33 participated in the forum. However, the ratifying countries are only 12. Ramendu Majumdar, President Worldwide of International Theatre Institute (ITT), hoped that this number would increase in future. ITI advances UNESCO's goals of mutual understanding and peace for the protection and promotion of cultural expressions.
The forum featured delegates from India, Sri Lanka, China, Indonesia, Iran and Japan, as well as Palau, Solomon Islands, Temor Leste, Kiribati and Marshall Islands.
TWo cultural programmes and one exhibition — upholding diversity of Bangladesh — were held during the forum.