Diversity of Cultural Expressions and Estonia

The Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions is a legally-binding international agreement that ensures artists, cultural professionals, practitioners and citizens worldwide can create, produce, disseminate and enjoy a broad range of cultural goods, services and activities, including their own.  It was adopted because the international community signalled the urgency for the implementation of international law that would recognise:

– The distinctive nature of cultural goods, services and activities as vehicles of identity, values and meaning;

– That while cultural goods, services and activities have important economic value, they are not mere commodities or consumer goods that can only be regarded as objects of trade.

The Convention seeks to:

– Encourage the introduction of cultural policies and measures that nurture creativity, provide access for creators to participate in domestic and international marketplaces where their artistic works/expressions can be recognized and compensated and ensure these expressions are accessible to the public at large;

– Recognise and optimise the overall contribution of the cultural industries to economic and social development, particularly in developing countries;

– Integrate culture into sustainable development strategies and national development policies;

– Promote international cooperation to facilitate the mobility of artists as well as the flow of cultural goods and services, especially those from the South.

Estonia approved the Convention in 2006. The contact point in Estonia on the 2005 Convention is Ms Anu Maaja Pallok, Adviser on Creative Industries from the Ministry of Culture (anu-maaja.pallok @ kul.ee)