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A14 LOCAL
Thursday 21 November 2019

Culture and Public Policy for Sustainable Development

common and diverse roadmap the 40th session of the General
ORANJESTAD — This week is an important week for cultural officials, pol- for sustainable development. The Conference of UNESCO. Interest-
icy makers, researchers, professionals and entrepreneurs all over the conclusion since then is that cul- ingly, UNESCO, the only United
world. On November 19th 2019 within the Forum of Ministers of Culture, ture is at the heart of this vision, Nations agency for culture, is re-
at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris, the “Culture|2030 indicators” was which is based on a project of turning to the tradition of ministe-
officially introduced. The Culture|2030 indicators is a framework of the- more inclusive and resilient soci- rial meetings in the field of culture,
matic indicators whose purpose is to measure and monitor the progress eties. 21 years after the Intergovern-
of culture’s enabling contribution to the national and local implemen- mental Conference on Cultural
tation of the Goals and targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable De- Forum of Ministers of Culture 2019 Policies for Development held in
velopment. The cultural sector now has its own tools for effective imple- On 19 November 2019, UNESCO Stockholm, Sweden in 1998.
mentation and stern monitoring with the vision of reinforcing the global hosted the Forum of Ministers of
cultural sector with sustainable targets. Ministers from all over the world Culture, a major event to discuss Continuing this new platform for
were invited to be present and to establish the roadmap for the cultural the central place of culture in priority setting and public pol-
sector within the SDG 2030 agenda. From the Dutch Kingdom, we took public policies around the world icy development, this ministe-
notice of the presence of the Minister of Culture of Curaçao who also and its impact on sustainable de- rial forum was an opportunity to
shared a few words in the general assembly, emphasizing on the need velopment. Even though Aruba’s make decisive progress on the
for more participation of associate members of UN in decision-making Minister of Culture was absent, role of culture in development
and leadership locally and internationally. the Plenipotentiary Minister of and effective policy making
Aruba and the Minister of Edu- thereof. There were four promi-
Considering the ongoing global exchanges, UNESCO is aiming to strength- cation, Science and Sustainable nent themes that constructed
en its multidisciplinary scope and addressing the issue of sustainable devel- Development of Aruba together the dialogue during the forum,
opment in an inclusive approach by emphasizing the synergies between with more than 140 Ministers and which are: 1. Culture and heri-
culture and social, economic and environmental issues. Since 2015, the high representatives were pres- tage, a renewable energy for
2030 UN Agenda for Sustainable Development has been developing a ent to mark a high point during dialogue and peace; 2. Culture
at the heart of education, a fun-
damental dimension for human
development and innovation; 3.
Investing in culture and creativ-
ity for sustainable development
and employment; 4. Culture in
the public space, a driving force
for urban and social transforma-
tion. With no doubt it can be
concluded that internationally
culture is continuously being rec-
ognized as a vital component of
sustainable development related
to general economic growth of
countries and social well-being
of our communities. Aruba, within
the vision of it becoming an in-
novative island of solutions in the
Caribbean, we cannot afford to
stay behind any longer. Culture,
creativity, innovation are all in-
terconnected and with effective
policymaking can bring Aruba to
the next level. As the Prime Minis-
ter of New Zealand recently ex-
pressed: countries need to stop
talking about targets and start
focusing on action.

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