In a proposition submitted last Friday, the Government requested the consent of Stortinget (The Norwegian Parliament) to ratify the recently adopted UNESCO Convention on Cultural Diversity.

- The elaboration of this Convention has been the most comprehensive and most important issue in global cultural politics for several years. It is my wish that Norway be among the first countries to become Party to the Convention, says Minister of Culture Trond Giske.

The Convention was adopted in October 2005, at UNESCO’s 33 ^rd> General Conference, after two years of tough negotiations. During the work on the Convention, more and more countries have become aware of the importance of securing the rights of all nations to develop their own culture and media policy. At the General Conference, only the United States and Israel voted against the adoption of the convention.

The Convention affirms that cultural goods and services have both an economic and a cultural nature, and must therefore not be treated as solely having commercial value. In the Convention the parties reaffirm their sovereign right to formulate and implement their cultural policies, to adopt measures to protect and promote a diversity of cultural expressions, and to strengthen international cooperation to achieve the purposes of the Convention.

Until now, Canada and Mauritius have ratified the Convention, but many other countries are in the process of ratifying it. In the EU, the Commission has submitted a proposition for the Council to ratify the Convention. The Convention will enter into force after 30 countries have ratified it.

- I look forward to the implementation of the Convention, says Minister of Culture Trond Giske, one reason being Norway’s active participation, together with Canada, Switzerland and many African countries, in the process of the Convention becoming reality.