Culture, ECLAC and OIE meet to begin work on Satellite Account for Culture

Culture, ECLAC and OIE meet to begin work on Satellite Account for Culture
Santo Domingo, October 7, 2013

T he Technical Meeting on a Satellite Account for Culture in the Dominican Republic is taking place at the Ministry of Culture headquarters between representatives of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the Organization of Ibero-American States (OEI), and the Ministry of Culture of the Dominican Republic.

The meeting will extend until Tuesday, October 8.

The following persons and institutions are participating in the event: the Minister of Culture José Antonio Rodríguez; Catalina Andújar, Director of OEI’s Regional Office in the Dominican Republic; Patricia Marcharnt and María Paz Collinao, from ECLAC’s Division of Statistics and Economic Projects; Olga Díaz, Advisor to the Governor of the Central Bank of the Dominican Republic; Carlos Santos, Coordinator of the Vice Ministry of Institutional Development; Juan Tomás García, Coordinator of Creativity and Popular Participation at the Ministry of Culture; and Alberto Valenzuela, from the General Technical Directorate at the Ministry of Culture.

In his speech at the beginning of the ceremony, Minister Rodríguez said that “the purpose of his administration is to instill an appreciation for the cultural creators and managers, as well as for the diversity of the tangible and intangible heritage, and to transform culture into one of the main engines of the Dominican economy.”

To achieve these goals from the area of culture, it is necessary to give visibility to the contributions made by the cultural sector to the economy, which allow for more resources from the national treasury to be available to implement public policy.

Rodríguez emphasized that among the policies that are to be implemented is the one ensuring that all Dominicans can exercise their cultural rights fully and freely, the way they are preserved in the Constitution.

In addition, it is also necessary to promote the participation of the people in cultural activities, thereby contributing to the overall improvement of the quality of life, the consolidation of democracy and human development in its broadest sense.

In that regard, he said that culture is one of the relevant means available to the nation to deal with poverty, because investment in the cultural sector is a priority for the harmonious growth of the nation, as spending on culture is a social investment to combat poverty, create employment and generate foreign exchange.

The Minister of Culture valued the importance of designing instruments to measure the contributions of culture, such as the Satellite Account project, so that it allows us to have a clear idea of what this sector contributes to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Officials from the following institutions also participate in the meeting on the Satellite Account of Culture in the Dominican Republic: the Ministry of Tourism, the General Directorate of the Internal Revenue, the Office of Intellectual Property, the Dominican Center for Export and Investment, the General Directorate of Customs, the Dominican Telecommunications Institute, and the National Bureau of Statistics.