The Minister for Education Sports and Culture has assured an international conference of Samoa’s commitment to safeguard its heritage, culture and cultural industries.

Addressing the Asia-Pacific Regional Consultation on UNESCO-Mondicult 2022, which was a virtual conference from January 11-12, Minister Seuula Ioane said Samoa is committed to protecting the country’s heritage, cultural industries and culture.

”Samoa’s commitment to safeguarding our heritage, cultural industries and culture through education is grounded on our beliefs, customs and systems of who we are as people,” Seuula told the virtual conference, according to a statement released by the Ministry of Education Sports and Culture.

“Our cultural heritage (measina), customs (Fa’a-Samoa) and culture (aganuu) is highly valued and regarded as tools of knowledge that have been translated into the development of our cultural policies.”

Seuula also credited the partnership between the UNESCO and the Samoa Government, which he said is guided by the Samoa National Culture Framework (2018-2028) and its Culture Policies – Heritage Policy, Culture Industry Policy and Culture in Education.

His intervention also included suggestions on future critical areas of engagement with particular emphasis on safeguarding “living heritage” and traditional knowledge.

The UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Culture, Ernesto Ottone R, said in the statement that the organisation is engaging member states on a renewed reflection of cultural policies to tackle global challenges.

"As we enter the last decade of action for the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, UNESCO is engaging its member states and the international community to embark on a renewed reflection on cultural practises to tackle global challenges such as inequalities, conflicts, technological revolution or climate change," he said.

Ministers and senior officials of 32 countries including Samoa, as well as more than 20 leading Intergovernmental organisations and NGOs from the region met online over two days and shared key trends, issues and priority areas of policy engagement for culture, such as digitalisation of resources, protection and promotion of natural and cultural heritage, both tangible and intangible, legal framework to protect cultural properties and cultural rights and strengthening of data and statistics.

The Asia-Pacific Regional Consultation was held under the chairmanship of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology of Indonesia and with the Ministry for Cultural Development of the Cook Islands as Rapporteur.