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New York: On 30 October 2017, the United General Assembly adopted its resolution ‘Culture and sustainable development’.

General Assembly resolution ‘Culture and sustainable development’, introduced by the Group 77 and China, reaffirms that culture is an enabler and a potential driver of sustainable development. It also emphasizes that culture is an essential component for human development, and a source of identity, innovation and creativity.

With adoption of the resolution, the General Assembly mandates the President of the General Assembly to host a high-level event on culture of sustainable development, with support of UNESCO, in 2019.

It also invites UNESCO to continue to provide support, facilitate financing and assist Member States in developing their national capacities to optimize the contribution of culture to sustainable development, and to continue to assess the contribution of culture to the achievement of sustainable development.

Taking note of the various framework documents, including the Hangzhou outcomes, Bali Declaration, the declaration adopted in Florence, as well as UNESCO’s report Culture: Urban Future and the New Urban Agenda, Member states underline the contribution of culture to the three dimensions of sustainable development and the implementation of the Agenda 2030.

Recalling the 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, as well as other international conventions of the UNESCO, the international community calls upon all countries and the UN system to raise awareness about the importance of cultural diversity, and promote capacity-building at all levels for the development of a dynamic cultural and creative sector.

Through the negotiations process, the international community considered the findings and recommendations of the UNESCO Director-General’s report on the implementation of culture on sustainable development, while it further emphasized the importance to support the emergence of local markets for cultural goods and services and to facilitate the effective and licit access of such goods and services to international markets.

UN Secretary-General is requested to submit a report on the implementation of the present resolution to the General Assembly at it’s seventy-forth session.