FLORENCE, ITALY – Culture ministers from the G7 industrialized countries gathered in Florence on March 30, 31 for two days of talks G7 Culture aimed at putting cultural diplomacy on the agenda.
At the end of the first day they signed the Florence Declaration: media firms including Sky and Disney sounded an alarm on online piracy in a letter to the G7 Culture. Saying it threatened their existence, the firms said it was just as harmful as trafficking in stolen works of art.
The first G7 of Culture meeting was the brainchild of Italian Culture Minister Dario Franceschini. It is part of the preparations for a summit of the leaders of G7 countries – Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States – in Sicily at the end of May.
«Because of the importance of our own heritage, Italy has a leadership role in issues of culture – Franceschini said ahead of the talks -. We want to translate this strength into action at the international level by putting the idea of cultural diplomacy onto countries’ agenda.»
He added that the recent damage inflicted on Roman-era monuments in the Syrian city of Palmyra had raised public awareness of the importance of the issue. A recreation of Palmyra’s arch of Triumph was unveiled in Florence in the occasion of the G7 of Culture.
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