UNCTAD15 Creative Industries and Trade Digitization Forum: Opening ceremony

Statement by Rebeca Grynspan, Secretary-General of UNCTAD

Distinguished panelists and participants,

Ladies and gentlemen,

Dear friends,

It is a great honour for UNCTAD to open this first Creative Industries Forum in the context of our fifteenth ministerial conference (UNCTAD15). We will devote this forum to analyzing, understanding and addressing these important industries through the wide lens of digitalization.

I want to share a word of thanks with the government of Barbados, for bringing this meeting to fruition, as well as our own Creative Economy Programme team at UNCTAD.

The issues that we will address these days are of fundamental importance. We are living in a critical period in the history of multilateralism and development.

This pandemic, as you well know, has produced immense setbacks in the developing world, especially at a time when efforts towards achieving the 2030 Agenda should be coming into full gear.

This is why we need to kickstart an inclusive and sustainable recovery as fast as possible. So far, that is not happening, despite the 5.3% global GDP growth expected this year. This figure is simply the average of an increasingly divergent economic trajectory.

Advanced countries are growing and vaccinating at rates that are multiples of those in developing regions. If we don’t kickstart and change that soon, this recovery will leave many people behind, and this will not be prosperity for all.

And this is precisely where digitalization and creative industries come in, as they can greatly help us light switch a more dynamic and inclusive recovery.

Creative and cultural industries, also known as CCIs, amount to around 5% of current GDP, and this percentage is rising. CCIs generate trillions of dollars in annual global revenues. Their annual exports are over 250 billion and they employ about thirty million people worldwide.

Importantly, 23% of people employed in the creative industries are aged 15 to 29 (more than in any other sectors), and women hold 45% of the creative occupations worldwide.

The subject, however, is complex, and policy recommendations are not always clear-cut. It is increasingly evident that fast-paced global, technological and social changes are rapidly expanding the scope, potential and uptake of the creative industries.  

The symbiosis between the creative and digital worlds should come as no surprise, as is the nexus and advances in big data and analytics, augmented reality, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, blockchain, digital marketing and online advertising, to mention a few. So creative content interlaces with, and gives visual life to, the digital world.

As a result of these changes, the lines are blurring between industries and sectors, between tools and channels, and between markets and demand.

The interaction of ideas, products, services, media and the internet is becoming increasingly complex and difficult to manage, but the potential of doing it successfully is immense. And for doing it well, we need to invest in digital infrastructures and do it in an inclusive way.

But we have to be prepared because as connectivity increases, the level and demand for quality content also increases. The COVID-19 crisis has shown as that, too. We've seen how artists have turned to both well-known and emerging platforms to connect with audiences and consumers.  

And while digital solutions cannot always replace the value and beauty of a live show, we need to understand how digital technologies and tools have transformed not only artistic and cultural practices but the entire cultural value chain, from creation to production, distribution, access and participation.

Dear delegates,

Given the important role of the digital creative services for creative industries, it’s crucial that countries ready themselves for the "new normal" and adopt digital strategies in line with their development needs.

Since the creation of the Creative Economy Programme in 2004, UNCTAD has played a leading role in supporting developing countries to enhance their understanding of the economic contribution of the creative industries from a trade and development perspective, supplying data and shedding light in an industry often ignored and misunderstood.

In this regard, I ask you to read UNCTAD’s research on "Creative Industries 4.0" which is going to be published shortly and which will focus precisely on creative industries in developing countries through the lens of digitalization.

Let me finish by wishing you all a very successful forum.

We are happy we have managed to bring together this key policy discussion group not only during our fifteenth conference but also during this 2021, the International Year of Creative Economy for Sustainable Development. UNCTAD has heeded the call and will continue to do so.

It is our hope that this forum will be the first of many and that your debates and deliberations will enrich these industries, which are critical for an inclusive and sustainable recovery.

Thank you