BRICS Culture Ministers Sign Agreement on Cultural Cooperation

Culture ministers of the five BRICS countries signed an agreement to "develop and promote cooperation and exchanges in the field of culture, including the art of music and dancing, choreography, theater, circus" and in other creative activities.

UFA (Sputnik), Daria Chernyshova — Culture ministers of the five BRICS countries, gathered at the seventh BRICS summit in the southwestern Russian city of Ufa, signed an agreement on cooperation in the field of culture on Thursday.

The participants of the BRICS culture ministers' meeting discussed the current status and future prospects of cultural exchange projects.

The BRICS member states are encouraged in the text of the agreement to "develop and promote cooperation and exchanges in the field of culture, including the art of music and dancing, choreography, theater, circus, archives, publishing and libraries, museums, cultural heritage, fine, decorative and applied arts, audio-visual works, and in other creative activities."

The facilitation of scientific and research exchanges, as well as the exchange of information, is also stipulated. It calls on the BRICS member states to cooperate in preventing the illicit import, export and transfer of ownership of cultural property.

The agreement highlights the importance of cultural heritage in the sustainable development agenda.

The five signatories to the agreement, namely Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, are bound under the agreement to promote enhanced cooperation in such fields as the protection, preservation, restoration, return and utilization of objects of cultural heritage.

The document was signed at the BRICS summit in Ufa that is taking place from July 8 to 10 and has brought together leaders, high-ranking officials and businesspeople from the group's five member states.