24 Oct 2018
Source: ASEAN Secretariat News
ASEAN Culture Ministers commit to mainstreaming the Culture of Prevention
YOGYAKARTA, 24 October 2018 – The ASEAN Ministers Responsible for Culture and Arts have committed to promote a culture of peace and intercultural understanding with a view to strengthening ASEAN identity through the adoption of the ‘Yogyakarta Declaration on Embracing the Culture of Prevention to Enrich ASEAN Identity’.
The 8th ASEAN Ministers Responsible for Culture and Arts (AMCA) Meeting, under the theme ‘Embracing the Culture of Prevention to Enrich ASEAN Identity’ was chaired by Indonesian Minister of Education and Culture Prof. Muhadjir Effendy. He emphasised that as the goal of the ASEAN Declaration on Culture of Prevention was to promote a peaceful, open, resilient, healthy and harmonious society, Indonesia is ready to take part and actively support this endeavour given that Indonesians have been upholding values of equality, peace, and harmony.
The AMCA Leaders shared their views on how the ASEAN culture sector could institutionalise CoP in the region. Further, they recognised that ASEAN’s rich cultural heritage could be used to promote shared values of mutual tolerance and appreciation of cultural diversity so as to strengthen ASEAN identity.
In his statement to the meeting, the Secretary-General of ASEAN Dato Lim Jock Hoi emphasised that culture is an important enabler to foster peace and social stability. He also highlighted that culture can bring about wide-ranging economic benefits, particularly in the development of small medium sized cultural enterprises and in bolstering cultural and heritage tourism. (Read Dato Lim’s full remarks here)
The meeting discussed updates on the implementation of the ASEAN Strategic Plan on Culture and Arts 2016-2025. They also considered future directions of the culture and arts cooperation with ASEAN’s Dialogue Partners, and adopted the work plans on cultural cooperation with the Plus Three Countries – China, Japan, and the Republic of Korea. After the meeting, the AMCA met with representatives from the Plus Three countries in a forum as well as separately.