TANZANIA: NEARLY 800 stakeholders within the culture and arts sectors are expected to meet next month to discuss issues affecting their industry and discuss ways to resolve them.

The meeting will also discuss on funds initiatives offered by the government to boost creativity. It was unveiled over the weekend by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Culture, Arts and Sports, Gerson Msigwa.

In his address, he highlighted that Deputy Prime Minister Dotto Biteko will attend on behalf of President Samia Suluhu Hassan at the big event.

According to him, the meeting aims to see success in the sector, so bringing together industry players is crucial to discuss their issues and challenges, build a network and share experiences to keep the sector moving forward.

"At this meeting, we will discuss the state of the culture and arts sectors and make recommendations for improvement, discuss challenges and devise strategies to solve them and recognise and reward stakeholders who have had success. "The meeting is an opportunity for stakeholders to network themselves and to share their services. I am inviting all stakeholders to cooperate with the Ministry through the culture and art fund to make this important national meeting possible," he said.

Among the beneficiaries of the meeting will be institutions involved in culture and art, financial institutions, insurance companies, development partners, telephone companies, higher education institutions, civil society organisations, and private and public institutions involved in formalising artworks.

Along with that, Msigwa met the stakeholders of the fund along with the banks and thanked them for their contribution to enabling artists to get loans in an orderly manner to improve their day-to-day creative efforts.

"It is good to have the banks on board as this is happening in the order of credit services. Together, we are strengthening this sector and we are strengthening a very important group in our society."