Impact Study: UNESCO-Aschberg Programme for Artists and Cultural Professionals

CARIFORUM and EU Member States are endowed with rich cultural assets and have a mutual interest in strengthening their cultural cooperation at all levels. As Parties to the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions , it was a natural progression when both sides agreed to the inclusion of a Protocol on Cultural Cooperation (Protocol III) in the CARIFORUM-EU EPA, whichwas signed inOctober 2008. Indeed, the inclusion of Protocol III in the EPA is quite significant, as it represents the first occasion that comprehensive provisions on culture, providing for the movement of cultural practitioners, were included in a trade agreement with the EU. The Protocol provides a framework for cooperation between CARIFORUM and the EU, including through the facilitation of cultural exchanges and training and the co-production of audiovisual works. The Protocol therefore provides significant scope for CARIFORUM’s cultural practitioners to build their capacity in the field of culture and establish networks across the EU. These activities can lead to commercially viable arrangements under the Trade in Services pillar of the EPA. For Jamaica, the EPA, including the Protocol and the Trade in Services provisions, is seen as an important instrument aimed at using trade as an engine of economic growth and development. Services, including those provided by the Jamaican creative and cultural industries, continue to contribute in a tangible way to the country’s GDP. The implementation of the Protocol on Cultural Cooperation is critical to the development of the cultural sector in the region. We are therefore pleased that work is underway betweenCARIFORUMand the EU tooperationalize the Protocol, including through the adoption of specific modalities. Jamaica will continue to play an important role in that process. The opportunities under the Protocol must be promoted by the Parties and seized by cultural practitioners on both sides. This will require greater stakeholder engagement in the process. Let us make it work. Senator Hon. Kamina Johnson Smith Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Jamaica

24 Culture in the CARIFORUM-EU EPA