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From left: Secretary of the 2005 Convention, Danielle Cliché; Minister of Culture, Sports and Youth, Stephen Lashley; and Cultural Programme Specialist, UNESCO, Cluster Office for the Caribbean, Yuri Peshkov posing with this document yesterday after the UNESCO Workshop Opening on the 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions held at the Accra Beach Hotel and Spa yesterday.

Caribbean citizens need a new outlook

 

 
The thought processes of Caribbean citizens needs to be reengineered and the systems used to develop and promote the cultural heritage of this region need to be enhanced if we want to see the kind of economic growth that we are desirous of.
 
The Minister of Culture, Sports and Youth, Stephen Lashley said he recognises that these objectives are not just for Barbados alone, but for the entire region.
 
“As you are fully aware, as a small island developing state we are not alone in these efforts and neither are those countries represented from the Caribbean today. CARICOM member states are also positioning themselves through national and regional initiatives to invest in, and diversify their economies by leveraging their natural and cultural assets of our various countries,” he pointed out.
 
Indeed growing the creative industry into a rising economy is the path that the islands in the region must head down.
 
“In fact the importance of the development of a creative economy is the preferred direction for many of our countries in the Caribbean and this workshop, therefore in my view, should serve as a means of giving impetus and giving backing to the critical need to build vital capacity and indeed capability of our local and regional cultural organisations,” he explained.
The Minister of Culture, Sports and Youth, Stephen Lashley therefore called for attention to be placed on these areas as this would go a long way towards changing the thought processes of our citizens as well as the development of these systems.
 
“I believe that it is at that level that we have to focus quite a bit of our attention if we are to reengineer not only the thought process of our people, but to move our systems further than what they are today in terms of getting the kind of results that we are asking for.”
 
He stated that this is why the workshop is so significant as it would allow the regional participants to share their best practices and the lessons that they have learnt and hopefully, this would lead to the creation of a mechanism that would aid in the formation of crucial partnerships that would thrust the economies of the region upward.
 
“In fact, I believe that you the participants in this workshop need to use it as a platform and as an opportunity to share your best practices and lessons which are learnt and to do so by developing and building a fascinating network to foster better relations and to help of course in the vital transformation of the systems that drive our economies in the region,” he stated.
At the time the Minister was addressing the UNESCO Workshop on the 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, held at the Accra Beach Hotel and Spa yesterday.

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