The Forum of Latin American and Caribbean Ministers of Culture and Policy Makers will celebrate its 18th edition on 21-22 July in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia’s Plurinational State. Elizabeth Salguero, Bolivia’s Minister of Culture will chair it. The Forum’s subject will be “Cultures and life paradigms in Latin American and Caribbean identities towards regional integration”. The main subject will be divided into other subjects: south-south cooperation, culture of peace, productive culture and living well-good living.
UNESCO will be represented at the Forum by Mr. Edouard F. Matoko, Director of UNESCO’s Office at Quito. Nilda Beatriz Anglarill, Director of UNESCO’s Office at Lima; Nuria Sanz, Head of the Latin America and the Caribbean Section of UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre, and Olga Rufins, Technical Secretary of the Forum, from UNESCO’s Latin America and the Caribbean Regional Office will also be part of UNESCO’s delegation.
The Forum will also follow up on projects approved in the previous edition, like the Caribbean Film Festival, the Virtual Museum of Latin America and the Caribbean, CARIFESTA, the Latin America and Caribbean Culture Portal, the Caribbean Capacity Building Program for Cultural and Natural Heritage, CARICOM’s Website for Children, and the project SICSUR – Mercosur’s Cultural Information System. Proposals for new projects in strategic areas will also be analysed.
This Forum of Latin American and Caribbean Ministers of Culture, first of its kind in the region, was created in 1989 during the First Regional Meeting of Ministers of Culture which took place in Brazil. It is the ultimate meeting place in the region for culture’s high-level officials, since it is the only place where all 33 Member States of Latin America and the Caribbean meet.
UNESCO has cooperated closely with this cultural coordination mechanism since its inception and since 1999 facilitates, coordinates and finances from its offices in La Habana the Forum’s technical secretariat. During the previous edition a meeting between the Forum and UNESCO took place to discuss Cultural Policies for Diversity and Culture, as a result of Resolution 35 C/DR.53, approved in its entirety by UNESCO’s 35th General Conference, in October 2009.
The Member States of the Forum have always acknowledged UNESCO’s permanent support through its offices in Latin America and the Caribbean and especially through its Culture Regional Office. The XVII Ministers of Culture Forum (2010) recommended explicitly to its Pro Tempore Secretariat to take the necessary measures in order to sign a cooperation agreement between UNESCO and the Forum.
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