A global forum for creative industries, Beyond 2006, one of a series of events of month-long Creative 2006 programs to showcase and promote Singapore's creative sector, was kicked off in Singapore Monday.

"Many countries see the creative industries as a key competitive advantage in the globalized economy. Ideas and imagination have become valuable assets and drivers of economic opportunities and growth," Lee Boon Yang, Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts, said at the opening ceremony of the forum.

"Singapore cannot be any different," he said, adding "We must harness creativity and the power of innovation to forge ahead in a globalized economy."

The tow-day forum of Beyond 2006 is a platform to provide opportunities for the domestic and international leading creative icons to exchange creative ideas.

The creative industries, which comprise of the arts, media, and design, are among the fastest growing economic sectors globally. The global market value of the creative cluster was estimated at more than 1 trillion U.S. dollars last year.

Singapore launched the Creative Industries Development Strategy in 2003, starting to put in place many programs and supporting structures to drive this growing sector.

In Singapore, added value of this sector had grown at 7 percent compared to 4 percent for the general economy from 1995 to 2003, while employment grew by 5.5 percent per annum during the same period, according to the minister.

Besides value add and employment, the creative industries have a wider reaching impact across the economy and other sectors such as people's life, community and the culture.

Lee pointed out that long-term success and sustainability of this sector will depend on balancing creativity and commercial viability with cultural and social capital building.

Source: Xinhua