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I Forum of Ministers of Culture and Officials in Charge of Cultural Policies in Latin America and the Caribbean. |
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| Final Declaration |
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I FORUM OF MINISTERS OF CULTURE AND OFFICIALS IN CHARGE OF CULTURAL POLICIES IN LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN
The Ministers of Culture and Officials in Charge of Cultural Policies of the countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, responding to an invitation from the Government of Brazil, met in Brasilia on 10, 11 and 12 August 1989 aimed at expanding cultural relations in the region and at the same time exchange views and experiences leading to the formulation of joint initiatives and the coordination of common efforts.
As a result of the debates, the Ministers agreed to issue the following Declaration:
DECLARATION OF BRASILIA
I. CULTURE AS AN INSTRUMENT FOR THE REGIONAL INTEGRATION AND DEVELOPMENT
1.- Culture has become an indispensable factor for the process of political and economic integration in Latin America and the Caribbean, as it is the sphere, which embodies the common identity and the solidarity awareness of the region. All these are necessary elements for the strengthening of the democratic values, the liberties, the search for peace and the defense of human rights.
2.- Regional integration should be based on the recognition of ethnic, cultural and linguistic pluralism of the peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean founded on the autochthonous heritage and the contribution from other cultures.
3.- The true social and economic development considers, in the first place, the educational and cultural advance. The acknowledgement of the cultural personality of each of the region’s peoples is an indispensable condition for every genuinely democratic integration process.
4.- Cultural integration in Latin America and the Caribbean play a fundamental role in the enrichment and growth of the region, with its specific contributions regarding dialogue and international cooperation. The contribution of Latin America and the Caribbean, with its creative and original capacity, is crucial for the development of universal culture.
5.- Participants strongly condemn illegal drug and other narcotics use and traffic, which degrade and destroy the most important values and principles of our cultures.
II. PROTECTION AND CONSERVATION OF CULTURAL AND NATURAL HERITAGE
6. – Cultural and natural heritage jointly constitute elements that cannot be waived in the personality of Latin America and the Caribbean, and their preservation is an essential objective for the integration and development of the region.
Such preservation must include historic and cultural identity, natural landscape and built historical heritage; moreover, it includes movable heritage, and tangible and intangible creations by our peoples.
7.- Cultural activities must be promoted to propitiate rational use of natural resources and the preservation and conservation of the environment.
8.- Latin American and Caribbean countries should coordinately struggle for the elimination of illegal traffic of cultural heritage, which are part of their cultural heritage. Likewise, they should struggle for the return of such cultural goods and for their reinstatement into the people’s cultural heritage.
III. FREE CIRCULATION OF CULTURAL GOODS AND SERVICES
9.- For culture to play fully its role in the process of regional integration and development, there should be more circulation of cultural goods and a greater exchange between their creators.
10.- The actions developed within the Convenio Andrés Bello, and the signing, within the framework of ALADI in November 1998, of the Partial Scope Agreement for the Free Circulation of Cultural Goods constitute significant steps towards this process.
11.- The development of regional and national cultural circuits that favor particularly the areas of music, performing arts and visual arts should be stimulated.
IV. ARTISTIC EDUCATION
12.- The creation of national and regional centers and programmes for specialized artistic education should be stimulated, aimed at education cultural promoters and managers, to the professional upgrading of artists and to the organic insertion of artistic education in the general educational systems.
13.- It is our governments’ obligation to encourage the existence of social and cultural conditions that stimulate artistic and intellectual creation in an environment of broad liberties.
V. AUDIOVISUAL MEANS AS INSTRUMENTS OF INTEGRATION
14.- The importance of the media as an instrument for a greater knowledge of the values in the region should be reaffirmed. In this regard, greater efforts should be made to increase and improve the exchange of information within the region, which will allow a more agile and intense knowledge of the processes occurring within the area.
15.- The exchange and co-production of TV programs among our countries should be encouraged, above all, those o fan educational and cultural character.
16.- Mechanisms that aim at the creation of a common market for Latin American and Caribbean films also deserve our support.
17.- Funding for the production of films and videos should be increased and specific mechanisms for its implementation should be enforced.
18.- Cultural industry is of critical importance for the economic and social development and for the preservation of the values, both in each separate country and in the region in general. In this regard, it is imperative the strengthening of the national and regional industries of communication.
VI. LANGUAGE DIFUSSION AS AN INSTRUMENT FOR THE EXCHANGEAND INTEGRATION, PRESERVATION AND ASSESSMENT OF AUTOCHTHONOUS LANGUAGES
19.- The mutual recognition of our languages demand a special effort aimed at stimulating their study, mostly in secondary level courses in each of the region’s countries. Diffusion is, furthermore, an important factor for publicizing the cultural and artistic heritage as well as an effective instrument for integration.
20. – The need to preserve, assess and disseminate autochthonous languages, with the direct participation of the populations involved was also emphasized.
VII. BOOKS, LIBRARIES AND THE PROMOTION OF READING
21.- Acknowledging the relevant role placed by books, the creation of a common market for Latin American and Caribbean publications is recommended, aimed at increasing and deepening the exchange of ideas, information and experiences.
22.- To this end, it is necessary to especially facilitate the production, transportation, distribution and use of the Latin American and Caribbean book.
23. – The creation and strengthening of libraries and regional collections is recommended, as well as the establishment of national permanent reading promotion programmes and, in general, support to the training of personnel related to books.
24.- It was agreed to reinforce and encourage the cooperation between countries member of CERLALC (Regional Center for the Promotion of Books and Reading in Latin America and the Caribbean); the inclusion of all countries of the region in such programme is, likewise, recommended.
VIII. SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE
25.- To channel the benefits of science and technology towards the production and promotion of culture, the countries in the region should strengthen cooperation horizontally. Priority shall be granted to educational programmes for the generation of income and to joint research and development programmes.
26.- Furthermore, our countries shall give special attention to those science and technology programmes and projects that are related to culture, such as those developed in other parts of the world. The governments of the region shall make a special effort to coordinate, if possible, the policies for the transfer and use of technologies that can be implemented in the cultural industry, especially in the area of information and communication. An important example of a recent development in applied science and technology is high definition television, topic that should be seriously studied and analyzed by all the countries in the region.
27.- We must do our best for these technological advances to reaffirm the values of our cultural identities.
IX. V CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY OF THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA AND THE ENCOUNTER BETWEEN TWO WORLDS
28.- The programmes devoted to the commemoration of the V Centennial Anniversary and Encounter between Two Worlds must be the occasion for the reflection on our historic evolution, as well as for the strengthening of the regional identity and for the establishment of permanent institutions and mechanisms for cultural and educational actions.
This meeting of Ministers of Culture and Officials in Charge of Cultural Policies especially considers this the timely opportunity for the creation of Ministries of Culture, National Councils of Culture and other similar public Institutions devoted to cultural activities, which constitute a priority in the continent. These Institutions shall have budgets capable of ensuring the development, promotion and consolidation of our liberation, integrating cultural awareness. History is proof that only culture, even in painful crises, has been the element determining the renaissance of peoples.
This Meeting, in the same way, decides to express recognition to the cultural institutions in the region that have developed a work aimed at the defense of our most genuine values and to the integration, through cultural means and ways, of the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean.
This Meeting also expresses its decision and its willingness of maintaining this Forum of Ministers of Culture and Officials in Charge of Cultural Policies of our countries to ensure the continuity of its initiatives, without detriment of their participation in other multilateral fora. The creation of a Council in which Institutions and personalities representative of the culture in the region participate should also be studied.
It is furthermore recommended that the elements that shape the profile and unity of our culture be studied, with the purpose of drafting, as soon as possible, a Manifest for the Cultural Affirmation of Latin America and the Caribbean.
Finally, the Ministers of Culture and Officials in Charge of Cultural Policies, by invitation of the respective governments, have agreed to meet again in 1990 in Mexico City, Mexico, in 1991 in Havana, Cuba and in 1992 in Caracas, Venezuela. Moreover, an extraordinary meeting will be convened, in Mar del Plata, Argentina in January 1990, as a preparatory meeting for the Forum to be held in Mexico.
The Delegations attending this Forum of Ministers of Culture and Officials in Charge of Cultural Policies express their recognition and gratitude to the people and the government of Brazil for this historic initiative.
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