Goge Africa has announced the inauguration of a Cultural Dialogue and Diplomacy Series aimed at promoting African culture as a strategic tool for diplomacy, tourism development and economic growth.

The initiative was announced in a statement by Goge Africa co-founder Nneka Isaac-Moses on Monday.

Ms Isaac-Moses said the series marked the next phase of the organisation’s more than 25-year journey of documenting and promoting African heritage across the continent.

She said the series was being convened in collaboration with the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs and the Centre for Black and African Arts and Civilisation, with support from the Lagos State government and the Federal Ministry of Arts, Culture, Tourism and Creative Economy.

According to Ms Isaac-Moses, the platform represents an evolution from cultural storytelling to policy engagement, creating a space where culture can contribute to conversations on diplomacy, trade, tourism and development.

“For over twenty-five years, we carried the camera. We went to the villages, palaces, festivals, and sacred spaces. We documented everything we could, but documentation alone is not enough.

“Culture must enter the rooms where policy is made, where trade is negotiated, where perception is shaped. That is what this series is designed to do,” she said.

Ms Isaac-Moses said the first edition of the series, scheduled to be unveiled on July 2, 2026, is with the theme, ‘Eyo, Culture and Soft Power — Driving Diplomacy, Integration and Economic Growth’.

The cultural platform plans to use the Eyo tradition as a lens to explore culture’s role in diplomacy, integration and economic advancement.

She said the initiative would become an annual platform for examining different African cultural traditions, cities, and themes, while fostering partnerships, cultural exchange, and opportunities for tourism and investment across the continent.

The programme will feature the premiere of a documentary titled ‘Eyo: Culture, Memory and Power’, a high-level dialogue on culture and soft power, a diplomatic roundtable involving more than 20 consular missions, and a curated cultural exhibition.

The programme would also feature the inauguration of ‘The Dialogue Journal,’ a publication dedicated to cultural diplomacy and thought leadership.

Also, the director-general of NIIA, Eghosa Osaghae, said culture had become an increasingly important instrument of international engagement.

“Culture—how nations tell their stories, project their values, and engage with one another—has become a defining instrument of diplomacy. That is why NIIA is proud to host and co-convene this Series,” he said.

Goge Africa is a pan-African tourism and cultural programme which was founded in 1999. It was conceptualised and anchored by the Nigerian couple, Isaac and Nneka Moses.

(NAN)