The Dominican Republic, represented by the Minister of Culture, Milagros Germán, participated in the 33rd Meeting of the Council of Ministers of Culture of the Central American Educational and Cultural Coordination (CECC/SICA), held on Thursday 18, in virtual mode.
At the meeting, the minister, on behalf of the country, proposed the implementation of programs to support professionals and artists of the cultural and creative industries in the countries of the region.
She also proposed the projection of literature and culture around the theme of Afro-descent and the promotion of the participation of young people from the SICA region in a dialogue on the region’s heritage.
The meeting was led by Felipe Amado Aguilar Marroquín, Minister of Culture and Sports of Guatemala and President pro tempore of the CECC/SICA Council of Ministers of Culture, and Carlos Staff Sánchez, Executive Secretary of the SE/CECC/SICA.
The meeting was also attended by representatives of Guatemala, Costa Rica, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras and Panama, who agreed on joint initiatives for the cultural development of the region’s countries.
This organization promotes and encourages Central American regional integration in the areas of education and culture, as fundamental pillars of sustainable human development.
On the agreements
In the session held, the participating dignitaries approved the elaboration of an action plan to safeguard the region’s intangible cultural heritage, with emphasis on the intangible cultural heritage of African descent.
Similarly, it was agreed to coordinate the necessary actions for the consolidation of the SICA youth cultural network and the realization of the II Cultural Meeting of Youth of the SICA Region, to be held in conjunction with the pro tempore presidency in the second half of 2022.
Another of the initiatives approved is the establishment of alliances to institute an inter-institutional commission in all countries of the region to prevent and combat illicit trafficking of cultural property.
Likewise, it was approved to continue with the support to the ministries of Culture for the elaboration of a multi-country candidacy on the cultural expressions linked to the veneration of the different Christs of Esquipulas in the SICA region, to apply for their entry in the representative list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity of UNESCO.
The session also agreed to request SE-CECC/SICA to submit a proposal to UNESCO’s Global Call for Proposals on the Status of the Artist and to continue the training process initiated with the virtual course “Economy and Culture: Methodology of the Satellite Accounts of Culture”.
