Creative Economy: A Feasible Development Option

profile their trade performance in the area of the creativeindustries. The database provides an opportunity for policymakersand researchers to extract trade information to generatedetailed product and country-level information for economicanalysis.As an illustration, the annex presents country profilesfor two countries (Argentina and Turkey) from differentgeographical regions, showing their trade performance forboth creative goods and services. These country profilescover the period 2002-2008 and compare all creative sectorsto better understand how their trade performance hasevolved. The first part of each country profile summarizestrade balance and with a detailed disaggregation of productgroups. The second part presents a comparative analysis oftrade data for creative goods, positioning each country in itsregional context.55.4 Regional economic groups in world marketsEurope led exports of creative-industry products duringthe period 2002-2008. As shown in table 5.9, the 27-member European Union is the leading regional economicgrouping in exports of creative goods, dominating the marketwith about 40 per cent of world exports. However, thisincrease also reflects the growing number of countries in theEuropean Union. Conversely, fewer countries are nowgrouped as economies in transition, one of the reasons fortheir very low level of exports. European Union exports ofboth creative goods and creative services increased markedlyduring the period 2002-2008. Its exports of creativegoods rose from $89 billion in 2002 to $163 billion in2008. For data on trade flows by trade groups, see tables1.3 in the annex.Asia became the second largest exporting region in2002, when the total value of its exports of creative goodssurpassed the total exports of creative goods from NorthAmerica, according to reported figures. As mentioned earlier,the main reason for this is the impressive growth ofexports of creative goods from China, which reached $85billion in 2008. Moreover, exports of creative goods fromthe 10 countries of the Association of Southeast AsianNations (ASEAN) rose from $7.3 billion in 2002 to $17.3billion in 2008. For the so-called ASEAN+3 (ASEAN plusChina, Japan and the Republic of Korea), total exports ofcreative goods reached $113.4 billion in 2008 (see table 1.3in the annex). In other regions in Asia, including Westernand Eastern Asia, production and exports of creativeproducts also increased sharply from 2002 to 2008.In Latin America and the Caribbean, the performanceof creative industries also improved but less rapidly.Exports of creative goods from the 34 countries thatactively participate in the Free Trade Area of the Americas(FTAA) increased from $33 billion in 2002 to $53 billionin 2008. Of this latter amount, $49 billion represented theexports from the three countries that belong to the NorthAmerican Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA): Canada,Mexico and the United States. On the other hand, the fourMERCOSUR countries (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay andUruguay) have a small share in the world trade of creativegoods despite the gradual increases; together they exported$1.6 billion of creative goods in 2008. The other countriesof the region have a very small share in world trade ofcreative-industry products.In summary, the potential of creative industries inLatin America and the Caribbean has not yet been fullyexplored. The economies of the ACP Group — whichencompasses the 79 countries of Africa, the Caribbean andthe Pacific — are not yet benefiting from the huge potentialof their creative industries. Despite their rich cultural assets,their share in world markets remains extremely small.Nevertheless, exports of creative goods increased from $446million in 2002 to $1.6 billion in 2008. The same situationapplies for the group of 49 LDCs (whose exports reached$1.6 billion in 2008) and the SIDS (whose exports reached$135 million in 2008). (Most of the LDCs and SIDS arealso members of the ACP Group). Undoubtedly, furtherefforts should be made to enhance creative capacities fortrade and development gains in all these countries.International trade in creative goods and services: Global trends and featuresCREATIVE ECONOMY REPORT 2010135