Members of the newly-formed Australian Coalition for Cultural Diversity (ACCD) will next week represent Australia at the second International Meeting of Professional Cultural Organisations, in Paris. The meeting, scheduled February 2-4, will look at a number of cultural issues in the context of the forthcoming negotiations at the World Trade Organization (WTO). It is hoped that the meeting will result in the establishment of a united approach and strategy to deal with the challenges posed by an unrestrained free trade agenda. The ACCD’s José Borghino (also Executive Director of the Australian Society of Authors), speaking of the coalition’s participation in the event, said that the ACCD had a responsibility to ensure that Australia could continue to exercise its unique form of expression, free of external interference. ‘Just as a safe environment is now always on the agenda in trade negotiations, so should cultural diversity,’ Borghino said. ‘Cultural diversity must be given proper consideration, as countries approach a new round of negotiations on free trade.’