Thursday, June 28, 2007

CONFERENCE ON CULTURE DIVERSITY HELD

Taipei, June 28 (CNA) Academics from more than 10 countries are taking part in a two-day international conference on culture diversity under international trade regimes that started Thursday to discuss conflicts and difficulties between preserving cultural diversity and trade practices.

Taiwan is "rich in cultural diversity as it has been ruled by Spanish and Dutch" and is currently facing the challenge of globalization at a time when it is working hard toward developing a cultural creative industry, said Minister of Council of Cultural Affairs (CCA) Wong Chin-chu in her opening remarks.

On Oct. 20, 2005, the UNESCO General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expression (CCD), which became effective March 18 this year. Taiwan has been paying great attention to the convention although it is not a U.N. member, Wong said.

The debate between preserving cultural diversity and international trade practices has been going on in Geneva, where the World Trade Organization (WTO) headquarters are located, said Deng Chen-chung, chief negotiator of Taiwan's Office of Trade Negotiations who was based in Geneva in his previous job.

In most countries, trade and cultural officials do not talk to each other often, Deng said, adding that even in Geneva, representatives from different countries know very little about the UNESCO convention.

"Currently, the WTO is not equipped to handle this issue, " he said, urging a mechanism between the WTO and UNESCO and clearer rules of the convention to be set up.

A total of 16 theses will be presented at the conference, and new rules to address cultural policy issues within the WTO framework in future trade negotiations will be explored. The participants are from New Zealand, Canada, India, Israel, Germany, South Korea, Hong Kong, France, the U.K., the U.S. and Taiwan.