Dhaka, Oct. 24 -- Finance Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury Saturday said the government wants to establish the creative industries as a mainstream part of the economy and as a source of the country's "soft power".

"Art and culture, rural handicrafts, music, cinema and theatre must be brought into mainstream economic activity, turning them into a key driver of the country's new GDP growth and building Bangladesh's soft power, or cultural strength, on the global stage," the finance minister made the remarks at the launch of the book Creative Footprints in Banani.

Noting that conventional economic thinking has long kept art and culture on the margins of economic activity, he said the present government has decided to move away from th...