UN vows to help Africa expand its creative industry

The UN said on Friday it will help African nations to expand its creative industry in order to boost the continent's economic growth.

The UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Secretary General Dr Mukhisa Kituyi told a media briefing in Nairobi that the continent's creative industry has been underutilized despite its huge potential to transform the region.

"We are going to expand our partnerships with African governments in the development of film and performing arts," Kituyi said during a media briefing ahead of the UNCTAD meeting which runs from July 17-22.

UNCTAD currently has partnership with many African states especially in the francophone region.

"We are also looking forward to partnering with Kenya's creative industry sector to see how best to contribute to unlock its energy and potential," Kituyi said.

The Secretary General noted that many African countries are currently dependent on commodities for revenues.

"We have substantial concerns among commodity-dependent countries that for the past forty years not many countries have graduated out of the vulnerability and over dependence on commodities," he said.

The UN official noted that the collapse of the global price of commodities over the past two years has made some African countries struggle because of a massive shortfall in anticipated resources.

According to the UNCTAD report, developing countries lost close to 100 billion U.S. dollars from investment related tax evasion and illicit flows in 2014.

"We also know that in 2015, total Foreign Direct Investment into Africa was approximately 54 billion to 58 billion dollars," Kituyi said.

"This means that it is at least as important to address the stealing of Africa's rightful resources as it is to attract new resources into the continent," he said. Endit