"Culture can be a great promoter of peace and dialogue," stated the coordinator at the end of the WG's last technical meeting

With progress in drafting the declaration that will be submitted to the Culture ministers of the G20 countries, the Culture Working Group closed its last technical meeting before the November ministerial meeting in Salvador, Bahia, on Wednesday (7). In addition, the side event on the Creative Economy, a partnership between the G20 and the Organization of Ibero-American States, will continue until tomorrow (9).

"Culture can indeed be a great promoter of peace and dialog. So much so that we can deal with sensitive issues in a respectful and constructive way, despite the diversity of countries in this group." This statement by Bruno Melo, coordinator of the Culture Working Group (WG) at the G20, sets the tone for the more than 35 hours of intense debates at the meeting which took place in Rio de Janeiro between August 5 and 7.

The event is the WG's second technical meeting. It progressed in drafting the final document which will be approved in Salvador in November, during a major ministerial meeting in the city. Salvador harbors the largest Black population outside of Africa, and was Brasil's first capital. The main axes of the declaration are Cultural Diversity and Social Inclusion; Copyright and the Digital Environment; Creative Economy and Sustainable Development; and Preservation of Cultural Heritage.

"We were able to discuss difficult and new issues, such as the transformation of processes in the field of culture in the digital environment and how to face new challenges, both in copyright and in the relationship between the economy of culture and the creative economy. We discussed ways of establishing greater cooperation between the G20 countries, so as not only to tackle them, but to provide solutions, including regulation when possible. Specifically within forums that discuss this, such as the World Intellectual Property Organization. The mere fact that we are debating this among the G20 countries is a major step forward," pointed out Melo, the head of the Special Advisory Office for International Affairs at Brasil's Ministry of Culture [Ministério da Cultura/MinC], which is leading the Group's work during the Brazilian presidency.

Next steps

Vinícius Gürtler, the Ministry's general coordinator for International Affairs, explains that further meetings can be held virtually to refine the content of the declaration. "We managed to discuss the entire draft. All the aspects referring to culture during the meeting were addressed after a great deal of effort on the part of all the delegates. For the next steps, we expect to organize virtual meetings to deepen discussions around certain points that are still open—but there is a willingness among all the countries to reach the necessary consensus so that we have a final document that will be signed by the ministers of Culture at the meeting on November 8, 2024, in Salvador, Bahia," he explained.

With information from the Ministry of Culture

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