On 12 and 13 August, Haiti will host to the Karibe Convention Center in Petion-Ville, the 6th Inter-American Meeting of Ministers and High Authorities of Culture, around the theme "Interdependence cultural face to Globalization". Thematic workshops, including "Cultural Entrepreneurship, innovation tool and of social inclusion", "Local development through culture" and "City and Culture" will be held during these two days.

Following this international summit, where 19 delegations have already confirmed their participation, the project "Declaration of Port-au-Prince" will be discussed. Monique Rocourt, the Minister of Culture, hopes that this Declaration will be adopted by consensus and reflect the commitment of the countries of the hemisphere to the promotion of culture "I expect that the statement reflects the intrinsic value of culture as a unique and inseparable badge and should be a driving force in the process of economic development by strengthening identity as a factor of social integration and the fight against poverty through income generation."

She also underlined the interest of the Haitian Government, for that Declaration contains a recognition of the importance of preserving historic and natural heritage of the region, the identity of each country and the promotion of inter-cultural dialogue.

"The challenges we face today as a nation are not only economic, environmental or social, but have to do with our ability to exercise solidarity with the other [...] A force that arises due to the knowledge of our acceptance and our ability to learn from each other, to discover and use our similarities and our differences, for mutual enrichment."

Minister Rocourt says it is up to Ministers, senior officials and managers of the culture of OAS Member States to ensure, within the framework of multilateral cooperation, dynamic and real "appropriate and harmonious cultural policies, likely to engage in community development and reducing inequalities and cultural development of cultural and creative industries."

Finally, the Minister recalled that the peculiarity of the Haitian culture was born "of the mixture of three continents, through five centuries of ethnic, language and traditions mixtures under conditions that are often ignored by the rest of the world [...]"

SL/ HaitiLibre