Creative Economy: A Feasible Development Option

Development of the European Commission and theSecretary General of ACP States, to highlight the potentialof the Creative Africa Initiative and shape concrete activities.So far, six outcomes have resulted from CreativeAfrica: (i) The Second Session of the African UnionConference of Ministers of Culture, held in Algiers inOctober 2008, debated the objectives of the Creative Africain the context of the “African Cultural Policy Framework”.(ii) The Vice-President of Nigeria launched the NigerianChapter of Creative Africa in Abuja in November 2008,emphasizing that “Creative Africa is a brainchild of UNC-TAD XII and is an inspiration to develop the creative economyin Nigeria”. (iii) The Alta-Moda Fashion show held inFebruary 2009 in Milan, Italy, presented the collections ofthe Ghanaian designer Kofi Ansah, who was engaged in thedebates at UNCTAD XII in a panel entitled “From fashionto African communities and the MDGs”. Creative Africahelped to link the African Federation of Fashion Designerswith the Italian Fashion Group. (iv) UNCTAD has beencollaborating with the African Observatory for CulturalPolicies (OCPA), a key partner for the implementation ofthe initiative, and attended the OCPA Council session heldin Maputo, Mozambique, in June 2009. (v) UNCTADenhanced its cooperation with the ARTerial Network andprovided technical advice on the establishment of an“African Fund for Arts and Culture” along the lines of itsproposal for the creation of a “Creative Africa InvestmentFund”. UNCTAD presented the main findings of theCreative Economy Report 2008 in seminars held in Maputo,Mozambique, and Johannesburg, South Africa, in July 2009.(vi) For Ghana, Creative Africa motivated the creation of theFoundation for Creative Industries, which has been workingwith the Government to include creative industries as apriority on the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy II, asmentioned in Chapter 2. As a result, the government is committedto strengthening Ghana’s creative economy and toexpanding opportunities for creative specialists to upgradeskills and resources so they can achieve better distribution,exhibitions and live performances nationally and internationally.UNCTAD has been liaising with the World Bankoffice in Ghana to further support this endeavour.9.3 WTO multilateral negotiations and implicationsfor creative industriesThe ongoing multilateral trade negotiations underthe WTO Doha Round, which was launched in 2001 andwas to conclude in 2005, met impasses and remain inconclusiveat this point in 2010. These negotiations involvemany cross-cutting issues relevant to the creative industries,such as trade in goods, trade in services, trade-relatedaspects of intellectual property rights (TRIPS) and othertopics such as regional integration and trade facilitation,with the special and differential treatment for developingcountries being an important systemic horizontal dimensionin these negotiations.The WTO framework deals with trade of goods andservices of the creative industries, including trade of digitizedcreative content associated with ICT tools.Audiovisuals, cultural and other related services are discussedunder the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS).However, there are problems related to definitions. Althoughthe term “cultural goods and services” is the one used inWTO negotiations, there is no specific definition for “culturalservices”, which is widely considered as a subsector inthe broader category of “communication services” and veryoften, data for audiovisuals are credited in other sectors suchas telecommunications. This makes it even more difficult toarticulate trade policies in this area.IPRs and investment-related policies also have a longlastingimpact on the performance of creative industries andtherefore on the development agenda of developing countries.Trade policymaking and other ancillary governmentinterventions are necessary to assure the implementation ofcommitments and obligations under bilateral investmenttreaties, TRIPS provisions, and other WTO agreements aswell as regional trade agreements (RTAs), including freetrade areas (FTAs), have flexibilities that developing countriesshould give a careful consideration. The lasting effect ofthese instruments is to influence supply capacity and stimulatetrade performance in all sectors of the creative industries.9The international dimension of creative-industries policyCREATIVE ECONOMY REPORT 2010235