Lima, June 23, 2005.- Andean Community Secretary General, Ambassador Allan Wagner, today reported that the Andean Community’s cultural policy will be three-pronged, aimed at: first, developing cultural industries, second, protecting and promoting cultural diversity and third, safeguarding the material and immaterial cultural heritage.

He opened the National Workshop on Cultural Industries – Peru in a ceremony attended by the Head of the Secretariat of Interinstitutional Relations and International Technical Cooperation of the National Cultural Institute, Guillermo Cortés, and other well-known actors in Peru’s cultural sphere.

Wagner explained that the Andean Community’s purpose in developing cultural industries is not only to build up our wealth of diversity, but also to retrieve the roots of our Andean identity.

He stated that, as a result of this workshop and others that are planned for each of the Member Countries, an Andean strategy will be designed to develop cultural industries that will take into account the CAN’s strong points.

"It is not a question of building a strategy to replace national policies, but, rather, of one that, based on the CAN’s strong points, will enrich them by giving them an overall vision –the Andean vision,” he stressed, after expressing his assurance that “cultural industries can become a basic tool for our countries’ development.”

The objective of the second area of action, the protection and promotion of cultural diversity, is to look after our cultural expressions by holding events, congresses and other activities that will contribute to the discovery of the keys to our identity and help us build a stronger international presence.

The third, he added, has to do with the protection of our countries’ material and immaterial cultural heritage. He explained that a series of actions are already being taken in this area, particularly the adoption of Andean legal provisions to help CAN Member Countries preserve their cultural heritage.

"These three prongs interact with each other and should be mutually reinforcing in order to build up our identity,” he stated.

The Workshop was launched with the presentation of the Development Project for Cultural Industries in the Andean Subregion and proceeded with the formation of working groups to study the situation of each industry and public policies for the sector and to formulate proposals for their development. The Workshop will continue tomorrow at CAN headquarters.