Page 21 - Artesania Catalogo

Andres Van Der Horst Alvarez
HANDICRAFTS DEVELOPMENT AS A CULTURAL
INDUSTRY
The development of crafts as a cultural industry with
great impact on the national economy is in the process of
consolidating an opportunity for the competitive development
of the Dominican Republic, especially given its close link with
the national tourism sector.
Cultural industries become an opportunity for promoting
the competitive advantages of countries where differentiation
depends more and more on the capacity of its productive sec-
tor to innovate, based on the value added via knowledge and
taking advantage of technologies. Here is precisely where the
greatest challenge lies to promoting the integral development
of the crafts activities businesses in the Dominican Republic,
by way of an increase in the productivity and competitiveness
of its agents, strengthening their identity and access to the
internal and external markets.
The authenticity of same, in their distinctive modalities,
joined by standards of quality backing them, has undoubtedly
become a great and solid opportunity for the social and eco-
nomic development of the Dominican nation and the welfare
of its citizens.
Secretary of State, Executive Director
National Council of Competitiveness
As part of the vision of the country to recognize and sup-
port this industry, the National Development Strategy fixes on
its competitiveness axis the priority of “promoting the develop-
ment of cultural industry and projecting the tangible and intan-
gible patrimony of the nation”. As lines of action, it foresees
the consideration of a National System of Culture to conserve,
project and recover the cultural patrimony as well as the de-
velopment of a cultural supply that adds to the attractions
of tourism. These plans converge in the National Systemic
Competitiveness Plan, as well as the Institutional Strategic
Plan (2010-2015) of the Ministry of Culture.
For the National Council of Competitiveness (CNC) it
is an honor to collaborate in the support of the Ministry of
Industry and Commerce (Ministerio de Industria y Comercio
– MIC) in the preparation of the first Dominican Republic
crafts Catalog/Directory.
This joint effort with the Ministry of Culture serves to sat-
isfy a need demanded by the tourism and crafts sector, seek-
ing to contribute to extending the links of communication and
marketing between artisans and their potential consumers.
Artesanía Dominicana | Dominican Crafts | 21