As the lead agency of the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community (ASCC), the Ministry of Tourism, Arts, and Culture will be hosting the international seminar on the "Melaka Declaration on Cultural Heritage Value Creation" from the 23rd to 24th of this month in Melaka, a UNESCO World Heritage City.
The Ministry of Tourism, Arts, and Culture announced in a press release on Sunday (20th) that the seminar, co-organized with the ASEAN Secretariat, strategic partner Think City, and Telekom Malaysia, aims to unlock the potential of Southeast Asia's rich cultural heritage and to make these elements catalysts for sustainable economic growth, social cohesion, and innovation.
They stated that this event will bring together more than 100 participants, including cultural experts, academics, creative economy leaders, representatives from ASEAN member states, members of the ASEAN Senior Officials Meeting on Culture and Arts (SOMCA), as well as stakeholders, to jointly explore transformative approaches to cultural heritage conservation and value creation.
Moreover, the two-day seminar will feature multiple panel discussions, group discussions, and plenary sessions, focusing on the key challenges faced in the development of ASEAN's cultural heritage and unlocking heritage-led potential opportunities.
The seminar topics include driving economic growth by enhancing the cultural heritage value chain, strengthening regional cooperation through ASEAN-wide frameworks and cross-border collaboration, raising public awareness and encouraging community involvement in heritage conservation, and integrating culture and heritage into sustainable development policies to achieve inclusive growth and social cohesion.
The "Melaka Declaration," the core outcome of the seminar, will become an important document for the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community and is targeted for submission and adoption at the 47th ASEAN Summit to be held in Kuala Lumpur in October 2025.
Notably, the declaration aims to strengthen cultural cooperation, expand inclusive economic opportunities, and deepen the recognition of ASEAN's common cultural heritage.