Lok Sabha Question No. 1194 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-07-28
Subject: Participation in BRICS Culture Ministers' Meeting
Ministry: CULTURE
Asked by: Shri Tatkare Sunil Dattatrey

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF CULTURE

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1194

TO BE ANSWERED ON 28.07.2025

## PARTICIPATION IN BRICS CULTURE MINISTERS' MEETING

1194.   Shri Tatkare Sunil Dattatrey:

Will the Minister of CULTURE be pleased to state:

- (a)    whether  the  country  participated  in  the  BRICS  Culture  Ministers'  Meeting  held  in Brasilia, Brazil, on 26 May 2025, and if so, the details of the key outcomes of this meeting;
- (b)        the  details  of  collaborative  cultural initiatives  agreed upon during the meeting that could benefit India's cultural landscape; and
- (c)      whether  the  Government  has  planned  any  of  these  initiatives  to  be  implemented  in Maharashtra, particularly in tribal regions like Raigad, and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

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

(a) & (b) : Indian delegation led by Hon'ble Culture Minister  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 .

(c) : The implementation of initiatives envisaged under BRICS platform are nation specific and not region specific.

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## ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (a) to (b) OF LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.1194 FOR 28.07.2025 REGARDING 'PARTICIPATION IN 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.