Deputy Director of Development and Asset Management of Serpat representing Chile at the Mercosur meeting. Credits: @itaipuparaguay and @cultura_py
The city of Hernandarias in Paraguay was the scene of this important meeting, where our country was represented by the deputy director of Development and Asset Management, Pricilla Barahona Albornoz.
From Alto Paraná, near the triple border, representatives of all the countries that make up Mercosur and the associated states, such as Chile, met to promote agreements regarding cross-cutting issues that unite and identify our cultures and heritage. This meeting took place from Monday, June 3 to Friday, June 7, at the recently inaugurated Itaipu Roga Visitor Center.
Continuing with its multicultural tradition, the city of Hernandarias – whose population is originally from different parts of the country and abroad – received specialists in culture and heritage from different countries of the Southern Cone.
Pricilla Barahona, deputy director of Heritage Development and Management, participated on behalf of the Ministry of Cultures, Arts and Heritage of Chile, as the focal point of this meeting, being the technical person in charge and whose role was to facilitate communications to reach agreements between the parties. .
From this meeting, the deputy director highlighted “the great work of the host team from the Paraguayan Heritage Directorate, belonging to the Ministry of Cultures. In these days, those of us who participated managed to reconcile some issues that allow us to recognize the importance of a cultural asset beyond the borders of a country, being an important factor for integration between the countries of the Southern Cone.”
Paraguay assumed the organization of this meeting, because in January 2024 it was awarded the Pro Tempore Presidency that it will hold until July of this year, at which time it will transfer responsibility to Uruguay.
Mercosur Cultural Heritage Category
To establish the criteria that recognize cultural assets of regional interest, the cultural heritage category was approved in 2012 by the Common Market Council. The premise is that heritage contributes to the valuation of our identity and constitutes elements of understanding of references and shared values among the countries of the region.
In the case of Chile, the paya is the heritage element found on the Mercosur Cultural Heritage List, since 2015.
These Mercosur meeting days focused on the promotion of cultural rights and the generation of policies that seek to enhance social inclusion and cultural enrichment. It was also an instance of cooperation at the regional level, for the dissemination of the artistic and cultural expressions of the different participating countries.
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