AIRCO is proud to report that our Chairman Eugene Mthethwa has been selected by UNESCO as one of six experts to prepare reports on preferential treatment for developing countries in the perspective of Article 16 of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee's Convention for the Protection and Promotion of the Diversities of Cultural Expressions.

Article 16 reads:
‘Developed countries shall facilitate cultural exchanges with developing countries by granting, through the appropriate institutional and legal frameworks, preferential treatment to artists and other cultural professionals and practitioners, as well as cultural goods and services from developing countries.’

Full information about the Convention may be found here: www.unesco.org/culture/en/diversity/convention

The experts, each from a different developing nation, is tasked with preparing a factual document on this issue, establishing definitions, regulations and existing practices, and providing conclusions, recommendations and insights concerning the application of preferential treatment to developing countries in the field of culture, particularly from the perspective of the Convention.

The 6 selected experts are:

Mr Bilel Aboudi,
Deputy Director of International Cooperation and External Relations, Ministry of Culture and Heritage Safeguarding,Tunisia.

Mr Edouard Bourcieu,
Directorate General Trade, European Commission, proposed by the Group of the European Union.

Mr Eugene Mthethwa,
Chairman of AIRCO (Association of Independent Record Companies), South Africa.

Dr Keith Nurse,
Director Shridath Ramphal Centre for International Trade Law, Policy and Services, University of the West Indies, Cavehill, Barbados, proposed by Saint-Lucia.

Mr Pierre Sauvé,
Director of Studies and faculty member at the World Trade Institute, Berne, Switzerland, proposed by Canada.

Ms Vera Helena Thorstensen,
Economic Advisor to the Mission of Brazil in Geneva, WTO negotiations on trade policy issues.

AIRCO is proud to represent South Africa in these matters of far-reaching consequence for all culutral industries in developing countries.