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Central American region jointly calls for culture to be recognized as a sustainable development goal
In the framework of this meeting, the Ministers of Culture and representatives of Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Panama and the Dominican Republic, under the pro tempore presidency of Honduras, gathered in the city of Cantarranas, city part of the UNESCO Learning Cities network, adopted by consensus a Call for Action requesting UNESCO to work with Member States to include culture as a stand-alone goal in the Post-2030 Development Agenda and define the contents, indicators and means necessary for the formulation of such stand-alone goal.
At the request of the Ministers, UNESCO committed to bringing this regional initiative to the discussions on the Pact of the Future to be adopted in September 2024 at the United Nations Summit for the Future. Welcoming this historic moment, Ernesto Ottone R., the Assistant Director-General for Culture of UNESCO, stated:
UNESCO is honored to support the region's integration of culture and education as fundamental axes of sustainable human development. We recognise CECC-SICA for its unique ability to bring together these complementary fields, and encourage other regions to follow Central America's lead in advocating for a stand-alone culture goal.
In their Call for Action, the Ministers of Culture of the region committed to integrate culture into the national sustainable development plans of their countries in line with the priorities established in the Final Declaration of the UNESCO World Conference on Cultural Policies and Sustainable Development (MONDIACULT 2022). Anarella Vélez Osejo, the Minister of Culture of Honduras, said:
Culture is key to an inclusive and hopeful future of the next generations. The Call for Action reflects the importance Central American region places on diversity, and marks the beginning of a new chapter for cultural policies, with UNESCO as its partner.
The Ministers also undertook to establish joint preparation and coordination processes to consolidate a concerted subregional vision for MONDIACULT 2025 to be held in Barcelona, Spain (29 September-1 October 2025).
The adoption of this Call to Action was followed by a ministerial dialogue in Cantarranas, in which representatives from Honduras, Costa Rica, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic exchanged on the regional and national challenges and opportunities for the cultural sector towards MONDIACULT 2025, and agreed on the strategic importance of being present at this global forum.
