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Mr. Manservisi

Director General

Directorate General for Development

European Commission

1049 BRUSSELS

Belgium

Message to the European Commission concerning the draft strategy document on Culture in the European Development Policy

We, the representatives of some 40 non-governmental European, African and Latin American cultural and development organizations, participating in the International Conference "European Network: Culture and Development" taking place in Vienna between the 25th and the 27th of January 2007, express our satisfaction for the decision by the European Commission to consider culture as an important component of the EU development policy.

However, we are concerned by the fact, that the process engaged in early 2006, leading to a European strategy on culture in development, has not yet made sufficient progress towards adoption, which would make it relevant in the present discussions on the 10th EDF.

• While we appreciate the consultations with, among others, the outside stakeholders, which must have enriched the document, we would request another round of consultation on the revised draft.

• To achieve a wider level of participation in the process we would also call for a more representative group of stakeholders, including NGOs in the field of culture and development from the North and the South, to be consulted.

• We hope that these rounds of consultations on the issue of culture and development will in the future be established on a regular basis.

• Finally in the logic of granting culture its important role in development co-operation, as it was expressed in the initial draft strategy document, we request the Commission to allocate substantial additional administrative, technical and financial resources to culture in the EU development co-operation programmes.

Vienna, January 27th 2007

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