| Hakim Hayat |
TO GUIDE and further enhance Asean’s cooperation in culture and arts and in projecting a better Asean identity, the bloc’s ministers responsible for culture and arts adopted a 10-year strategic plan during their meeting in the capital yesterday.
The plan aims to develop the sector through annual planning, ensuring involvement of all stakeholders.
At a press conference yesterday, the Chair of the 7th Asean Ministers Responsible for Culture and Arts (AMCA) Meeting, Pehin Datu Lailaraja Major General (Rtd) Dato Paduka Seri Haji Awang Halbi bin Haji Mohd Yussof, Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports, said that following the 7th AMCA Meeting, the ministers jointly agreed for the adoption of the 10-year guiding document which will be used to develop annual work plans in the field of culture and arts and to encourage them as educational tools to deal with societal issues in order to bring Asean people closer together.
The key strategies of the plan include encouraging a multi-stakeholder approach in promoting an Asean mindset and identity; promoting the cultural diversity of Asean; advancing the cultural rights of the people of Asean; harnessing the contribution of the creative industries towards innovations, generating livelihoods and supporting economic development; engaging with and among policy-makers, professionals, practitioners and institutions concerned with the culture and arts; and promoting the role of culture for Asean to become a proactive member of the global community.
The Asean ministers also encouraged all stakeholders to participate in the planning and implementation of the plan, including Asean’s contributions to the global community such as the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the ongoing efforts in the protection and safeguarding of the world’s cultural and natural heritages, the minister said the press conference held at the Dermaga Diraja in the capital.
The ministers also expressed their support for an integrated approach and greater coordinated mechanisms, such as through education, involvement with youth, cultural volunteerism and outreach programmes, to address cross-cutting and cross-sectoral issues such as cultural awareness and sensitivity to the diverse nature of Asean member states’ backgrounds.
Pehin Datu Lailaraja Major General (Rtd) Dato Paduka Seri Haji Awang Halbi bin Haji Mohd Yussof, Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports during the press conference. – DEAN KASSIM
These efforts, the ministers agreed, are important to solidify the foundation of communication, strengthen the ability to be more understanding towards cultural values, beliefs, perceptions and tolerance, towards a prosperous and harmonious Asean Community.
During their meeting in Brunei, the Chair also shared that the Asean ministers adopted the ‘Bandar Seri Begawan Declaration on Culture and the Arts to Promote Asean’s Identity towards a Dynamic and Harmonious Asean Community’ to emphasise the centrality of culture and arts to Asean identity, social cohesion and economic success.
The ministers also welcomed a proposal to intensify the projecting of the Asean image, within and beyond the region through film, music and cultural tourism as these can effectively contribute to raising public awareness of the heritage, cultural diversity and vibrancy of the Asean region.
Meanwhile, in the AMCA Meeting with Dialogue Partners, including the Asean Plus Three (AMCA+3) China, Japan and Republic of Korea Meeting held concurrently with the 7th AMCA Meeting in Brunei, all the ministers expressed their support and encouragement for the Plus Three countries to join hands in the implementation of the strategic plan.
The ministers and its dialogue partners were also pleased with the progress of culture and arts collaboration between them. According to them, there is a potential to further foster long-term partnership between Asean and the Plus Three countries by expanding city-level cultural exchanges through joint cultural activities and art festivals under the Asean City of Culture and the East Asean Cultural Cities programmes.
The 7th AMCA Meeting and related meetings which concluded yesterday aimed at discussing and moving tasks devised by Asean leaders, adopting new programmes and recommendations as well as discussing methods to further promote the Asean identity.
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