KUCHING: The federal Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture (Motac) in collaboration with Sarawak government is pursuing efforts to uplift and nominate Kuching City as one of the creative cities network at the Unesco and Asean levels under the gastronomy category.
Its minister Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri said, at the regional level, Asean supports Unesco’s efforts to create a network of creative cities in the region and fully supports the aspirations of Asean countries to join the network of creative cities.
“This is in line with the Asean Vision 2025 to create a more prosperous and competitive Asean community.
“Malaysia’s intention to nominate Kuching City as one of the creative cities is a pragmatic effort and will have a positive impact on local socio-economic developments as well as increase the visibility and positive image of Malaysia and Sarawak, especially on the international stage.
“The varieties of heritage menus and ethnic-based dishes make Kuching City the top choice to be awarded as a creative city in the gastronomy category. Its rich biodiversity which has a variety of herbal plants that can be used as a food source can add value to this city to represent Malaysia,” said Nancy.
The Creative City Network is one of the initiatives introduced by Unesco in 2004, to foster innovation and creativity as a catalyst towards sustainable and inclusive city development.
There are seven main categories of creative cities that have been outlined by Unesco; namely science and literature, film, music, design, traditional crafts and arts, gastronomy and media art.
Nancy said with the creative city status, Kuching City will join 11 other creative cities that have existed at the Asean level, under the Asean Creative City Network (ACCN).
“The initiative to nominate Kuching City as Creative City of Gastronomy will be one of the cultural tourism products attractions that will boost the Malaysian economy and its tourism and culture industry,” she said.
Meanwhile, the ministry has allocated RM5 million to Sarawak Cultural Village (SCV) to upgrade the infrastructure and to strengthen the position of SCV as one of the main cultural tourism attractions in the state besides further enhancing its safety, image and comfort for visitors.
“A total of RM20 million under the Kampung Budaya (cultural village) allocation has been allocated to revive the tourism and cultural sector in several states in Malaysia through the 2021 Budget which was announced by the Finance Minister last year.
“The allocation is in line with the government’s intention to help revive the tourism and cultural sector which will be channelled for the purpose of improving the infrastructure as well as intensifying promotional activities for cultural villages, including in Sarawak, Terengganu, Melaka and Negeri Sembilan,” she said.
