UNESCO Secretary General advised Government to see culture as a means of empowerment

ZIZ News…February 24, 2010 – The Secretary General of the National Commission for UNESCO, Mr Antonio Maynard says they have offered their expertise to the government, in using culture as a tool of economic empowerment.

Mr Maynard told ZIZ News that UNESCO is pleased to collaborate with the Ministry of Culture to launch two major upcoming projects.

One: the establishment of a national slave scientific committee and two: guiding the Ministry of culture on drafting and implementing a national cultural policy.

Mr Maynard gave ZIZ Newsroom an outline of what is to come, stating: “We’ll be having several consultations with the public and with all the different stakeholders to come up with ideas to be included in the policy. This policy will help to guide the government in terms of using culture as economic empowerment for its people, especially for young people. There’ll be several meetings by April. One should start seeing activities on the ground where a Caribbean expert, the best, Dr Nurse from Trinidad & Tobago will be in St. Kitts conducting some groundwork preparation for the cultural policy in particular.”

The national UNESCO Secretary General said they will be meeting with all the various stakeholders and that by late next year a draft document should be on the desk of the Minister of Culture and hopefully in Parliament.