THE Democratic Coalition for Change (DCC) government is very committed in the development of the cultural sector as it is the pillar of unity in this country.
These were the words of the acting Permanent Secretary (PS) of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism John Wasi.
Mr Wasi uttered the words when presenting his remarks to officially open the Solomon Islands Cultural Industries Entrepreneurship training in Honiara yesterday.
“The Ministry of Culture and Tourism (MCT), through the Culture Department is working closely with the Arts Alliance of Solomon Islands (AASI)to preserve, promote and develop the cultural heritage of Solomon Islands and also to ensure that culture is amalgamated with the tourism sector to provide economic benefits for our people.
“As has been entailed in our policy, the MCT is committed to ensure that the Cultural sector is developed into a lucrative economic sector, whilst at the same time preserving and protecting the cultural identities of Solomon Islands,” the acting PS said.
He added that, one of the reforms that the government is committed to is the legislative reforms.
“…let me inform this workshop that my Ministry is in the process of presenting to parliament a bill on traditional knowledge and expressions cultures and again this is a bill that is enacted to protect the cultural rights of our people.
“Furthermore, we are also in the process of drafting a bill called Solomon Islands Arts and Cultural Council bill and this is mainly to regulate and coordinate all arts and cultural affairs of the country.
“Work is currently in progress and hopefully we should see the eventuation of this establishment in 2016,” Mr Wasi said.
By RONALD TOITO’ONA
