contributed USD 300 million to GDP in 2010 and employs more
than 200 000 people; and the visual arts sector has a turnover of
nearly USD 200 million per annum.
It must also strengthen our resolve to channel more investment,
including private sector investment, to the cultural and creative
industries.
The Film and television sector currently employs 25 000 people
and contributes more USD 500 million annually to GDP.
Related to this is the need to increase the capacity of Member
States to effectively measure the impact of the creative and
cultural industries.
In the coming years we will significantly upscale these numbers.
As part of implementing Vision 2030, we are now revising the
policy framework governing Arts, Culture and Heritage in our
country.
This we are doing in order to effectively position this sector at the
centre of our nation’s human development effort.
The revised policy framework will make provision for greater and
more sustained funding for the sector.
It will also cater for increased Information and Communications
Technology support for artists to enable the creation of works
expressing national creativity.
It will open space for vibrant and inclusive national dialogue on
the kind of society we seek to build
Equally it will assist us to develop and in implementing plans
for a more effective arts and culture curriculum in schools and
provide support for artists even after the peak of their careers.
It is against this background that we believe culture should be
located firmly at the centre of the Post 2015 global development
agenda.
Specifically, this debate must enhance the work of the UN
System Task Team on the Post-2015 Development Agenda,
focusing on culture as an enabler of sustainable development.
8
This will not only help us attract more investment but also
facilitate the implementation of adequate policy measures to
support the sector.
We must also invest in the development of skills required for the
sustainability of the sector.
Equally, we must invest in the preservation and promotion of our
cultural heritage, so as to contribute to nation building, social
cohesion and national healing as well as to use heritage as a
catalyst for local economic development.
Let us continue to use culture to create new platforms of
engagements as nation states.
Indeed let us use the power of the arts, culture and heritage
to address challenges of racism, xenophobia and other related
intolerances.
Let us promote cultural diplomacy as a tool to strengthen people
to people contact and a means to open further avenues for
interaction between peoples.
Collectively let us spread the message that as humanity we
share a common heritage and ancestory; that our destiny is
therefore linked.
There is no better way to do this than to use culture.
CORPORATE SOCIAL REVIEW