ACCRA, Nov. 5 (Xinhua) -- With glitz and glamour, the maiden edition of the Black Star Fashion Week Summit opened in the Ghanaian capital Accra on Wednesday.
The event was centred on how the West African country can leverage fashion alongside music, food heritage and the arts to strengthen its identity as a destination.
Ghana's Minister for Tourism, Culture, and Creative Arts, Abla Dzifa Gomashie, urged stakeholders in the fashion industry to work towards building their brand into a globally competitive one.
Speaking at the summit under the theme "Put Ghana on," the minister stressed the interconnectedness of culture, fashion and tourism and urged the need to integrate fashion into the country's tourism.
"At the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts, we recognize that fashion, culture and tourism are interconnected and mutually reinforcing sectors. Culture gives fashion its identity. Fashion gives culture contemporary expression. Tourism provides the international platform through which these expressions can be experienced, appreciated and commercialized," she said.
The minister urged the various stakeholders to work together to build a fashion industry that is commercially successful, culturally authentic, and globally competitive.
UNESCO Representative to Ghana, Edmond Moukala, emphasized the important role the creative industries play in the economies of countries.
"This platform demonstrates that our creative industries are not peripheral but central to the economy; they are actually central to it. It challenges the position from showcasing designs to building an industrial ecosystem. It invites us to consider how Ghana can strategically position its creative intellect within the African and global market to create jobs and grow resilience in business," said Moukala.
According to a 2023 UNESCO report, cultural and creative industries account for 3.1 percent of global GDP and 6.2 percent of total employment. It also estimated that Africa's annual exports of textiles, clothing and footwear amount to approximately 15.5 billion U.S. dollars.
