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Paris, UNESCO headquarters, the 20th of October 2005.

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The General Conference is voting on a text which will completely change the way cultural

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issues are governed around the world.

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With 148 votes in favor and only two against, the United States and Israel, a convention

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to protect and promote cultural diversity was adopted.

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This vote is the culmination of more than two years of intense negotiations within

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the cultural body of the United Nations.

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The new convention is a first in many ways.

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A first because it won the largest ever international consensus in this area.

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It's also a first as it's given the European Union a chance to play a new role in UNESCO.

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For the first time in history, 25 countries plus European Commission in UNESCO negotiated

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successfully with all member states a new text and the proposal of the convention.

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Practical application of such convention means taking into account cultural aspects when

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we deal with, for example, economy.

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Cultural goods have dual character, not only economic character, which is usual, but also

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cultural.

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This must be reflected when we negotiate or implement relations, treaties, agreements

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in order to protect and promote also cultural content.

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Within the European Union, it means that from now on the EU treaties will guarantee that

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the cultural aspects of all policies are considered.

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The UNESCO convention will also play a similar role on a world scale.

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It fills a legal vacuum by establishing rights and obligations at both national and international

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level.

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The countries of Africa were united during these negotiations.

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For many of them, it's simply a question of cultural life or death.

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Benin, for example, has some 30 spoken and written languages, but not one single structure

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capable of supporting and handling the worldwide distribution of any kind of film or musical

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production.

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In the long term, the world market would simply gobble up Benin's identity.

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For a country like Benin, as for most African countries, the advantage of having a convention

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means first and foremost having the power to decide on their own cultural policy.

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We want to be open, but at the same time have the right as a sovereign state to decide

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what we wish to be open to.

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It's simply a question of existence, and as we do exist, we say we too have something

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to offer the rest of the world.

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And there's no time to lose for the international community.

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The statistics speak for themselves.

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Of the world's 6,000 known languages, only 4% are used, and that's by 96% of the population.

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Two languages disappear every day.

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There are other astonishing statistics.

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Five countries control world trade in culture, and eight multinationals control almost all

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the audiovisual production.

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On the Internet, a symbol of globalization and cultural exchange, 90% of the world's

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languages are simply not used.

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Since 2003, Valérie Panis and Xavier Trussard have been regular commuters between Brussels

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and Paris.

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They were negotiators for the European Commission, and played an active part in all the decisive

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steps along the way to this historic vote on October 20, 2005.

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The first sticking point is not wanting to make a distinction between commercial value

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and absence of commercial value, because it's well known that apart from their commercial

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value, goods or activities have a cultural expression, and therefore, little by little,

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we come down to a very conceptual definition, where we recognize, first and foremost, the

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essential function of an activity, a good or a service, which is to transmit a cultural

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content.

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The supporting principles and values show that there's a lack of standardization at

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the international level, and that the gap will be filled by this convention, which will

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create not only a text with the principles, references and joint actions, but above all,

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a discussion platform, which puts these questions on the international agenda.

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The job of the two lawyers for the Commission was to coordinate the positions of all the

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EU member states, and negotiate with the other UNESCO members right up to the final vote.

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Members from civil society have also played a crucial role in the negotiations, such as

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Robert Pilon, a sociologist and economist. He's vice president of the Coalition for

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Cultural Diversity, a worldwide organization which represents all the artistic sectors,

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theatre, literature, music, and audiovisual production.

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When they're participating in a negotiation, countries will have a reference in international

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law to legitimize their actions. To be able to say, we refuse to negotiate the cinema,

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music, or theatre sectors as if they were the automobile or textile sectors. They can't

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be compared.

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The adoption of the Convention on Cultural Diversity opens up the way for exchanges which

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respect cultural identity. To become law, the text must still be ratified by 30 countries.

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It could be a long road, with some stumbling blocks along the way in certain countries.

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But for artists around the world, it's already the end of a long struggle.

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I don't want to compose in other languages than my own, because that's what I feel, and

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music is a feeling. When you have no feeling for a language, you don't want to sing in it.

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We've been treading water for 40 years. The day when our governments take culture into

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account, they'll see that the country will take off, and development will begin. That's

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why this convention is so necessary and so urgent for African countries.

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