Some 200 culture officials from across the hemisphere will gather in Barbados this week as the island hosts the Fourth Meeting of the Inter-American Ministers of Culture and the Highest Appropriate Authorities of the Organization of American States (OAS).
The high-level biennial meeting is scheduled to take place on Thursday, November 20 and Friday, November 21, 2008 at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre, Two Mile Hill, St. Michael.
Convened under the auspices of the Inter-American Council for Integral Development, it aims to promote hemispheric policy dialogue and consensus on priority topics on the public policy agenda for culture.
These priority topics include the ‘Preservation and Presentation of Cultural Heritage’, ‘Culture and the Creation of Decent Jobs and the Overcoming of Poverty’, ‘Culture and the Enhancement of Dignity and Identity’, ‘Culture and the Role of Indigenous Peoples’, and ‘Cultural Information Systems.’
The Barbados delegation, will be led by Minister of Culture, Steve Blackett, and includes officials from the Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and International Business, Ministry of Finance, the National Cultural Foundation, the Barbados Industrial and Development Corporation, the Barbados Museum and Historical Society and youth representatives.
The previous meeting of the Ministers of Culture was held in Montreal, Canada in November, 2006.