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CANADA TO HOST MEETING OF HEMISPHERE’S CULTURE MINISTERS

The Canadian city of Montreal will next month host the hemisphere’s ministers of culture and top culture authorities, who will discuss culture as it relates to key hemispheric agenda topics including the creation of decent jobs, poverty eradication, the preservation of national heritage, identity, and the role of indigenous peoples. The meeting will be held November 13 to 15.

Ambassador Graeme Clark, Canada’s Permanent Representative to the Organization of American States (OAS), and OAS Secretary General José Miguel Insulza today signed a memorandum of understanding on the holding of the Third Inter-American Meeting of Ministers of Culture and the Highest Appropriate Authorities. The agreement is between the OAS on the one hand and the Department of Canadian Heritage and the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade on the other. The three-day Montreal meeting is being convened under the auspices of the Inter-American Council for Integral Development (CIDI).

“We believe that such meetings are important for fostering exchanges on cultural issues and cooperation and for nurturing an ongoing dialogue between the OAS member states on such matters,” Ambassador Clark said during the signing ceremony at OAS headquarters in Washington.

Clark said that, as chair of the Inter-American Committee on Culture, Canada looks forward to a successful meeting as the ministers and top cultural authorities discuss issues of common interest that emerged from the Summit of the Americas in Mar del Plata, Argentina, last November. Specific issues he highlighted included culture as it relates to: the protection of national heritage, the enhancement of dignity and identity, the creation of decent jobs and the eradication of poverty, and the role of indigenous peoples.

Secretary General Insulza said after the signing that, “it is a most auspicious moment to be convening this meeting of ministers of culture.” He said the very OAS building where the agreement was being signed is “a symbol of what we are trying to achieve,” explaining that the OAS Main Building houses important cultural artifacts from all across the Americas, and is the venue for numerous important cultural activities.

Noting the organization’s very important role in protecting heritage, Insulza suggested that advantage could be taken of the Montreal meeting to examine how to more seriously incorporate cultural activities into the OAS’ activities.

OAS Permanent Chair, Trinidad and Tobago’s Ambassador Marine Valere, was on hand to witness the signing, along with the United States Ambassador to the OAS John Maisto, Director of the OAS Department of Education and CultureDepartment of Education and Culture Lenore Yaffee Garcia, and other diplomats and OAS Secretariat personnel.

Reference: E-212/06