Mam Cherno Jallow, chief executive officer (CEO) of the Gambia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI), has said statistics from UNESCO revealed that, the global market value of cultural and creative industries has been estimated at $1.3 trillion, as the market is rapidly expanding.

Mr Jallow made this remark last Friday while presenting a paper on Partnerships, Cross Sectoral Linkages and Private Entrepreneurship at a workshop organised by the National Centre for Arts and Culture (NCAC) and centred on the updating of the national cultural policy.

He futher stated that between 1994 and 2002, the international trade in cultural goods increased from $38 to $60 billions. According to him, the UNESCO statistics also revealed that the United Kingdom (UK), USA and China produced together 40 % of the world's cultural trade products in 2002, while Latin America and Africa accounted for less than 4 %. He then indicated that the UK was the biggest single exporter of cultural goods in 2002 with $8.5 billions followed by USA and China with respectively 7.6 billion and 5.2 billions.

The GCCI CEO noted that cultural goods and services represent a significant share of world trade but have not been fairly appropriated by developing countries.

He therefore challenged African and other developing countries to improve on their cultural goods and services for the benefit of their economies and the development of arts and culture.