Cinema and audiovisual media

u At the time when the Medium-Term Strategy for 1996-2001 was drawn up, the General Conference took the view that the Organization should "encourage those States which so wish, the developing countries in particular, to design national or regional policies whose application could create environments conducive to the development of those industries".

u  It was acknowledged that UNESCO, guided by its experience over the years in the formulation of policies on books and reading, should extend its efforts to the other cultural industries involving creative activities protected by copyright, such as cinema, audiovisual and multimedia.

u The objectives were clearly specified:

uu to encourage the establishment of mechanisms to coordinate action taken by national administrations and the private, professional sectors, with a view to developing the appropriate legislative and fiscal structures;
uu to organize international exchanges of information in that field;
uu to foster the adoption of regional and subregional cooperation strategies for the production and distribution of cultural goods and for the training of the professionals involved.

u As stated in the Action Plan adopted by the Intergovernmental Conference on Cultural Policies for Development (Stockholm, Sweden, 30 March-2 April 1998), "cultural goods and services should be fully recognized and treated as being not like other forms of merchandise". In an age of globalization, this shows how important the stakes are.

u In addition to these specific concerns, there are of course policy objectives which affect all the Organization’s activities: the priority given to women and young people, to the countries of Africa and the least developed countries, and the efforts made to promote a culture of peace, tolerance and non-violence.

u For further information on cinema, please contact Mr G. Poussin at the e-mail address: g.poussin@unesco.org.

Last update 02/10/01