Lok Sabha Question No. 2307 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-08-04
Subject: 10th BRICS Culture Ministers Meeting
Ministry: CULTURE
Asked by: Shri Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri, Smt. Mahima Kumari Mewar, Shri Basavaraj Bommai, Shri Alok Sharma, Smt. Smita Uday Wagh, Shri Chhatrapal Singh Gangwar

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF CULTURE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2307

TO BE ANSWERED ON 04.08.2025

## 10th BRICS CULTURE MINISTERS' MEETING

## 2307.  Shri Basavaraj Bommai:

Smt. Mahima Kumari Mewar:

Shri Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri:

Smt. Smita Uday Wagh:

Shri Chhatrapal Singh Gangwar:

Shri Alok Sharma:

Will the Minister of CULTURE be pleased to state:

- (a)   the details of the issues raised in the 10 th BRICS Culture Ministers' Meeting held at Brazil;
- (b)    whether the Government has initiated steps to implement the Joint Declaration adopted at the 10 th BRICS Culture Ministers' Meeting, if so, the details thereof;
- (c)    the details of the bilateral or multilateral cultural cooperation agreements which have been signed among the participating countries following the discussions held during the meeting;
- (d) whether the Government has developed a roadmap to integrate indigenous knowledge systems  and  cultural  heritage  into  climate  adaptation  and  sustainable  development strategies  as  discussed  during  the  meeting  and  if  so,  the  key  measures  being undertaken to achieve these objectives;
- (e) if so, the key policy or institutional measures undertaken to achieve these goals at both National and State levels including cultural hubs in States like Maharashtra; and
- (f) whether any mechanisms have been established to monitor and evaluate the outcomes of BRICS cultural cooperation initiatives, and if so, the structure and current status of such mechanisms?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF CULTURE AND TOURISM (SHRI GAJENDRA SINGH SHEKHAWAT)

(a): Indian  delegation  led  by  Hon'ble  Culture  Minister  Shri  Gajendra  Singh  Shekhawat participated  in  the  Xth  BRICS  Ministers  of  Culture  Meeting'  held  on  26  May  2025  in Brasilia, Brazil. The Declaration adopted in the BRICS Culture Ministers' Meeting(CMM) is placed at Annexure .

(b): The  BRICS  Culture  Ministers'  Meeting  is  a  vital  platform  for  promoting  mutual understanding, cultural exchange, and other collaborative initiatives in the culture sector.  Having adopted the Declaration of the 10 th BRICS Culture Ministers Meeting, India is committed to cultural diplomacy, heritage conservation, and people-to-people exchanges amongst the BRICS nations through cooperation/exchange in the fields of Arts, Museum & Galleries,  Cultural  Heritage,  Archives,  Literature,  puppetry,  various  arts  forms  and  dance forms, Theater etc.

(c): No bilateral or multilateral agreements are signed following the discussions in the 10 th BRICS Culture Ministers Meeting held in Brasilia, Brazil on 26 May, 2025.

However, Hon'ble Minister  of Culture held  bilateral  meetings  with  his  counterparts  from Brazil, South Africa, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on the sidelines of the BRICS Culture  Ministers  Meeting.  India  maintains  bilateral  cultural  relations  with  all  BRICS Nations  through  bilateral  Culture  Exchange  Programmes  for  strengthening  cooperation  in the fields of museums, theatre, literature, libraries, art galleries, etc.

(d)  &  (e): India  supports  integration  of  culture  into  climate  adaptation  framework  by integrating  indigenous  knowledge  and  traditional  practices  into  contemporary  climate strategies that would unlock sustainable, low-impact solutions that have been refined over generations-from indigenous water management systems and climate-responsive vernacular architecture to environmentally friendly artisanal crafts.

Mission LiFE-Lifestyle for Environment recognizes that Indian culture and living traditions are inherently sustainable. The importance of conserving our precious natural resources and living  in  harmony  with  nature  are  emphasized  in  our  ancient  scriptures.  LiFE  seeks  to channel the efforts of individuals and communities into a global mass movement of positive behavioural change.

(f): Under BRICS Culture track platform various alliances BRICS Alliance of Theatre for Children  &  Young  People,  BRICS  Alliance  of  Museums  &  Art  Galleries,  BRICS  Folk Dance  Festival  under  Alliance  of  Folk  Dance,  BRICS  Alliance  of  Libraries  &  BRICS Alliance  of  Museums  have  been  established  for  cooperation  in  the  field  of  Theatre, Museums,  Dance  &  Library.  The  activities  as  envisaged  in  these  alliances  are  held  by rotating Presidencies of BRICS nations as per the conditions stipulated in the Alliances. This is a continuous and ongoing process.

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## ANNEXURE  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PART  (a)  to  (b)  OF  LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED  QUESTION  NO.2307  FOR  04.08.2025  REGARDING  '10 th   BRICS CULTURE MINISTERS' MEETING'

## DECLARATION OF THE X BRICS MINISTERS OF CULTURE MEETING

## Preamble

We, the BRICS Ministers of Culture under the chairship of the Federative Republic of Brazil, under the theme 'Strengthening Global South Cooperation for More Inclusive and Sustainable Governance' , met on 26 May 2025 in the city of Brasília to seek further progress in our cultural cooperation agenda:

Adhering to the BRICS spirit of consensus, mutual respect and understanding, openness, solidarity, and sovereign equality within BRICS cooperation;

Recalling the commitments under the Agreement between the Governments of the BRICS States on Cooperation in the Field of Culture signed on 9 July 2015, and the Action Plan for the Implementation of the Agreement 2022-2026 signed on 24 May 2022, as well as the  Maropeng  Declaration  -  2018;  the  Curitiba  Declaration  -  2019;  the  Moscow Declaration - 2020; the New Delhi Declaration - 2021; the Beijing Declaration - 2022; the Mpumalanga Declaration - 2023; and the Saint Petersburg Declaration - 2024;

Reinforcing the need for enhanced cooperation, dialogue and understanding as pathways for a strengthened multilateralism, acknowledging the cultural diversity and the plurality of  sustainable  development  approaches  of  the  BRICS  Members  and  Global  South Countries  which  favour  a  more  sustainable  world,  and valuing the  perspectives  of  the Global South in global governance;

Calling for  more  efforts  to  respect  diversity  of  cultures,  highly  value  inheritance, innovation and creativity, jointly advocating robust international people-to-people exchanges and cooperation;

Recognising the power of culture as a key enabler and driver of sustainable development by the promotion of creativity, innovation, inclusive economic growth, social cohesion and environmental protection;

Highlighting the  intrinsic  value  of  culture  for  the  development  of  societies,  facing  the challenges and considering the opportunities posed by the increasing use of ICT, including artificial intelligence tools in the digital environment;

Acknowledging the broad positive effects for societies and states brought upon by the return of cultural property to their countries of origin, and recognising the moral imperative to take all measures in this respect, with a view to ensure the full enjoyment of everyone's right to take part in cultural life and access their cultural heritage;

Welcoming the enlargement of the BRICS family, through the addition of Indonesia and the establishment of the category of partner countries, which enables the Global South to forge a stronger alliance for peace and shared prosperity;

Encouraging the new BRICS members to accede to the Agreement on Cooperation in the Field of Culture by BRICS member States signed on 9 July 2015;

We pledge to further strengthen our cooperation through the following:

## 1. Culture and Creative Economy, Copyright, and Artificial Intelligence

- 1.1 Recognise  the  growing  economic  weight  of  the  cultural  and  creative  sectors  and industries and their contribution to the overall economy, by generating income, decent jobs, creative skills and driving innovation;
- 1.2 Agree to establish a BRICS platform on cultural and creative industries and creative economy within the BRICS Working Group on Culture; and encourage members, their respective cultural entities and financial institutions, as well as the New Development Bank (NDB) according to its mandate, among others, to look into the possibilities to support and foster the cultural and creative economies of BRICS member countries, developing cultural infrastructure, with a view to expand the dissemination of cultural content,  fostering  the  exchange  of  artists  and  cultural  practitioners,  as  well  as promoting  the  development  of  joint  projects,  across  a  wide  range  of  fields  of  the creative economy and cultural sector;
- 1.3 Foster cooperation in order to create a more harmonised, robust, and internationally comparable  statistical  architecture  for  the  cultural  and  creative  industries  across BRICS States, by building on recognised global standards and indicators on measuring the creative economy;
- 1.4 Affirm  the  need  for  an  ethical,  safe,  reliable,  inclusive,  trustworthy,  developmentoriented, equitable, transparent AI for good and for all, that is respectful of national legislation and the UN Charter, applicable international law, including sovereignty, human  rights,  and  the  empowerment  of  all  women  and  girls,  linguistic  diversity, cultural heritage, protection of consumers and users, and of intellectual property rights;
- 1.5 Emphasise  the  necessity  of  exchanging  experience  among  the  BRICS  States  on remunerating or licensing the use of content protected by copyright and related rights in the mining, training and development of AI systems;

- 1.6 Affirm the need for a sustainable cultural ecosystem in the digital environment that effectively supports  and  fairly remunerates  creators,  artists,  authors  and  other rightsholders,  as  well  as  upholds  intellectual  property  rights,  thus  enabling  an accessible, inclusive, and non-discriminatory digital environment, while also protecting artistic freedom and social and economic rights;
- 1.7 Favour  multilingualism  in  the  digital  environment  and  reaffirm  the  need  for  the training datasets of all AI models, including those used in large language models to encompass, promote, protect and preserve linguistic and cultural diversity;
- 1.8 Promote the cooperation  and  sharing  of  expertise  for  safeguarding,  promoting  and preserving  the  documentary  heritage  within  the  libraries,  archival  repositories  and higher education institutions among others.

## 2. Culture, Climate Change, and the Post-2030 Development Agenda

2.1 Affirm our commitment to supporting the inclusion of culture as a standalone goal in a future post-2030 Development Agenda, in line with the 2022 UNESCO World Conference on Cultural Policies and Sustainable Development (MONDIACULT);

2.2.  Recognise the need to protect culture and cultural heritage from the adverse impacts of climate change, in line with the UAE Framework for Global Climate Resilience at the 28th UN Climate Change Conference (COP28); and look into the potential of the cultural sector for climate mobilization;

2.3 Take note of the  efforts  of  the  Group  of  Friends  of  Culture-Based  Climate  Action (GFCBCA) to enhance global cooperation in advocating for culture and cultural heritage to be taken into account in climate efforts;

2.4 Encourage cooperation among BRICS countries for actions aimed at: i) safeguarding and protecting cultural heritage from  the impacts of climate-related risks by developing adaptive strategies  for preserving  cultural  practices  and  heritage sites  and  by  designing climate-resilient  infrastructure,  guided  by  traditional  knowledge,  Indigenous  Peoples' knowledge,  and  local  knowledge  systems;  (ii)  supporting  the  cultural  sector´s  role  in encouraging  sustainable  practices,  resilience,  and  climate-change-responsive  behaviour across all levels of society;

2.5 Reaffirm the principle of Common but Differentiated Responsibilities and Respective Capabilities as a guiding principle of the UNFCCC and its Paris Agreement and, with a view to preserve and safeguard cultural heritage, we urge developed countries to fulfil

their commitments to provide and mobilise climate finance taking into account the needs and priorities of developing countries;

2.6 Call for strengthening the international legal protection of traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions and take note of the ongoing discussions at WIPO.

## 3. Return and Safeguarding of Cultural Property

3.1 Affirm the importance of the return of cultural property to their countries of origin as a path  for  promoting  social  cohesion,  cultural  and  historical  justice,  reconciliation,  and collective memory, as well as for strengthening intergenerational knowledge transmission, safeguarding historical continuity, and fostering deeper cooperation among states;

3.2 Endeavour to ensure everyone´s right to freely participate in cultural life as well as to access culture and cultural heritage, especially that of its own community;

3.3 Acknowledge the importance of the return of cultural property to their countries of origin  and  its  potential  for  rebuilding  international  relations  in  a  non-hierarchical, cooperative basis, and we recognise the need for a more robust international framework on the matter;

3.4 Commit to strengthen cooperation in the subject of the return of cultural property by sharing experiences, national procedures, legislation and successful cases, by promoting heritage education and museum education, exchanging information among governmental instances and academic experts, as well as aligning priorities and policies in multilateral organisations with the aim of fostering progress in the field;

3.5 Welcome the decision of Brazil to support the organisation of a meeting of experts among BRICS countries in the field of return of cultural property, as a means to building the foundations for increased dialogue among academia, think tanks and civil society in the subject.

## 4. BRICS Festivals and Alliances

4.1 Welcome the decision of Brazil to host the BRICS Film Festival in the second semester, an event that will  showcase BRICS countries' national productions, fostering dialogue, respect and understanding, while also enabling business and networking opportunities for the film sector;

4.2 Encourage the formulation of a calendar of international cultural and heritage events of

4.3 Encourage  all  BRICS  States  to  join  the  existing  BRICS  Alliances,  including  the Alliance  of  Museums,  the  Alliance  of  Museums  and  Art  Galleries,  the  Alliance  of Libraries, the Alliance of Theatre for Children and Young People, the Alliance of Folk Dance, and the Alliance of Film Schools, through the signing of letters of intent by BRICS cultural institutions;

4.4. Consider using the Alliance of Museums and Alliance of Museums and Art Galleries, and the Alliance of Libraries to promote cooperation by developing virtual exhibitions that educate the BRICS members about their historical past and the significant progress they have made thus far in the recognition of social justice, freedom and fundamental human rights.