On 28 November 2024 in Paris, the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Latvia to the OECD and UNESCO, Andris Pelšs, hosted a reception for UNESCO member states. It featured a presentation on Latvia’s priorities and role at the MONDIACULT 2025 – UNESCO’s World Forum on Cultural Policies and Sustainable Development.
Six regional consultations will take place during the preparatory phase of the forum, and Latvia has taken the lead of the MONDIACULT 2025 regional consultations for Eastern European countries. The consultations will take place on December 12 and will be chaired by Agnese Lāce, Minister of Culture of the Republic of Latvia. The consultations will formulate the opinions of our region on a number of key topics, including culture as a human rights issue, digital transformation in the cultural sector, synergies between culture and education, the economic impact of culture, the role of culture in tackling climate change, the role of and threat to cultural heritage in crisis situations, the cultural impact of artificial intelligence, the role of culture in public security. The consultation will also address the ways to ensure that culture is included as a separate goal in the UN Sustainable Development Goals beyond 2030.
MONIDACULT, hosted by UNESCO, is the only global forum to discuss and shape global cultural policies that affect all the countries and cultural industries. The next MONDIACULT meeting will be held in Barcelona, Spain, in 2025, when UNESCO presents a global report on the state of culture.
The forum was attended by the UNESCO Deputy Director General Ernesto Ottone; the Ministry of Culture was represented at the event by the Deputy Secretary of State for Cultural Policy, Baiba Mūrniece. A presentation on Latvia’s cultural heritage was also given by Rūta Muktupāvela, advisor to the Minister of Culture, and Valdis Muktupāvels, professor of ethnomusicology.
Background information
UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) is an international organisation bringing together 194 countries committed to cooperation in and promotion of the areas of education, natural sciences, social sciences and humanities, culture, communication and information. Latvia joined UNESCO in 1991.
See more about MONDIACULT2025 at www.unesco.org
