Links for this article
- European Commission
- EuropeAid
- ACP Secretariat
- Unesco
- Unesco conference on cultural diversity (The Power of Culture, June 2007)
- Policy by donor countries: The European Union (The Power of Culture, March 2007)
- Influence of the WTO and the Unesco Treaty on world trade in culture is unclear (The Power of Culture, July 2006)
- UNESCO convention on cultural diversity approved (The Power of Culture, November 2005)
- Unesco Convention on Cultural Diversity in the Making (The Power of Culture, march 2005)
- World Trade agreements threaten cultural diversity (The Power of Culture, December 2004)
Articles 2003 - 2010
Europe to set up a culture fund for ACP states
The European Commission intends to set up a culture fund to support the distribution and production of cultural goods in the 78 African nations and the countries in the Caribbean and Pacific (ACP). The fund, amounting to at least € 30 million in the next six years, will aim to improve access to the EU and enlarge the markets of the ACP countries. Initiatives to revitalise local cultural industries can also apply for funding.
The EU has been looking for some time at how culture can be used in the fight against poverty. The Cotonou Agreement of 2000, which forms the basis of the cooperation between the EU and the ACP states, brings a cultural dimension to as many aid programmes as possible. The new culture fund is part of the first broad-based European culture strategy, which appeared on 10 May 2007 under the title 'A European Agenda for Culture in a Globalising World'.
The culture policy document shares the spirit of the Unesco Convention on Cultural Diversity, first established to protect local cultures and now a legally binding international treaty. The policy document underlines the special role of culture in the intercultural dialogue and the difficult process of European integration. A Cultural Forum will be established to involve the cultural sector more closely in the development of European policy on culture, and to make the EU more transparent and efficient. The ACP culture fund stems from a desire not only to integrate culture in development programmes but to make it a spearhead of European foreign policy.