The director of the SSC/SU (South-South Cooperation Special Unit), Yiping Zhou, stated yesterday, November 26, at the World Cultural Forum, that "the conventional form of thinking of business is not working. Therefore, we must work to make economic culture work."
The director of the special unit of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) participated in the conference about Creative Economy.
The director of the SSC/SU restated the United Nations’ (UN) interest in supporting operations of the International Observatory of Economics and Culture, to be based in Brazil, as announced by the Minister of Culture of Brazil, singer/composer Gilberto Gil.
He emphasized that the UN must accelerate the support for these efforts to be made possible. "We hope that it will be an international center for the creative economy," he said.
Yiping Zhou pointed out the international leadership that is being exerted by the Brazilian minister in the area of social inclusion through culture, both in Brazil and around the world through its cultural diversity and creativity.
Zhou stated that the figures show that the creative economy is contributing to the global economy and to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of various countries in the world.
"Although it represents 1% of the countries, we believe that the creative economy plays an important part for development, mainly in the informal sector."
He pointed out the need for the private sector to make a contribution for the creative economy to become fruitful. The informal and creative private sector, according to Yiping Zhou, should work together with the formal sector of the economy so that priorities may be established.