Thank you very much, hon Chairperson. Yes, we have recently entered into a cultural agreement with the Kingdom of Spain. The cultural agreement does not necessarily specify the involvement of provinces, but provinces can benefit from many of the cultural agreements that we conclude.
We cast them as wide as possible to include exchange programmes. In certain instances we take our artists to perform in those countries and we also invite artists from those countries to come to ours.
So, provinces in South Africa will definitely benefit from our agreement with Spain and it will be a matter of how we co-ordinate our activities in the country to ensure that there is a coherent approach.
But the really important thing is to benefit our artists, by showcasing our culture in those countries and through finding new markets for our crafters, our musicians and our artists. That is really what we are trying to do and we are making a lot of progress in that regard with Spain.
Chair, I would like to ask the hon Minister if there are any other agreements with other countries in the pipeline.
Hon Bekker, you will obviously know that that is an altogether new question.
Chair, is this just an agreement of understanding and exchange between South Africa and Spain, or is it more than that, where it has to be ratified by Parliament?
Chair, it is really a programme of co- operation. It does not require ratification by Parliament.
Particulars regarding hosting of events by department to commemorate Freedom Day
50. Mr D Joseph (DA) asked the Minister of Arts and Culture:
(1) Whether his department hosted any public events to commemorate Freedom Day on 27 April 2012 in all provinces; if not, why not; if so, what were the (a) detailed costs incurred and (b) costs for advertising the public events in each province in each case;
(2) whether his department hosted a public event to commemorate Freedom Day in the Western Cape on 27 April 2012; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details?