Foreign ministry showcases Cyprus’ actions towards culture and sustainability at UN

Director General of the Foreign Ministry Andreas Kakouris, said Cyprus is committed to promoting culture as a key factor in sustainable development at a meeting on the topic at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.

Speaking at the event on Wednesday, Kakouris said that the Cyprus government views culture as a national priority.

“Culture is not just the thread that connects us to our history and identity. It is also a powerful force for social cohesion and economic development,” he said.

Culture contributes to “effective, inclusive, equitable and sustainable development” the director added, and creative industries “can boost innovation, create jobs and strengthen resilience.”

Culture is a catalyst for sustainable development and gives communities a strong sense of identity and social cohesion, he said. He recalled that Cyprus is among the countries that had committed at the UN’s “Pact for the Future” summit to integrating culture into economic, social and environmental development policies and strategies and Cyprus is one of the leaders and co-chair countries of the Group of Friends of Culture at the UN.

Digital culture is, likewise, a powerful tool for inclusion, creativity and sustainability, Kakouris said, and Cyprus is committed to the “union of cultures in the digital age”.

Kakouris also presented the latest initiatives by Cyprus on the matter, including the Digital Cultural Heritage Laboratory of the Cyprus University of Technology (Tepak), which hosts the UNESCO Chair for Digital Cultural Heritage and is dedicated to the “digitisation, documentation, archiving, preservation, protection and promotion” of cultural heritage, and the UNESCO designated Fikardou village, which created its own online platform for preservation and global dissemination of its rich cultural heritage, offering “a model for how local communities can thrive in the digital age and enhance sustainable tourism.”

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