Tomorrow (15 December) Cornelia Pieper, Minister of State at the Federal Foreign Office, will be accepting the White Paper on shaping cultural diversity from Walter Hirche and Dr Verena Metze-Mangold, President and First Vice President of the German Commission for UNESCO.

The White Paper contains recommendations from civil society for political action to implement the 2005 UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions in and by Germany. The Convention enshrines in international law the right of States Parties to formulate an independent cultural policy with all the instruments at their disposal (state financing of cultural institutions, film funding) and is intended to help foster cultural diversity.

Germany ratified the Convention in 2007 and has been active since then in drawing up the operative guidelines.