28 December. On 15 December, the Director-General of ICCROM was invited by the Italian Ministry of Culture and the Municipality of Florence to a meeting on 'Italian World Heritage Sites inscribed on the UNESCO List'.

The meeting was inaugurated by Mr Francesco Rutelli, Minister of Culture of Italy. Also present were Mrs Danielle Gattegno Mazzonis, Vice Minister of Culture of Italy; Mr Leonardo Domenici, Mayor of Florence; Mr Matteo Renzi, President of the Provincia Toscana; and Francesco Bandarin, Director of the World Heritage Center of UNESCO.

28 December. On 13 December, the Director-General of ICCROM was invited by H.H. the Ruler Sultan Al Qasimi of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.

He participated in meetings in the Archaeological Museum on the future conservation training programme to be held in Sharjah.

He was accompanied by Zaki Aslan, ATHAR Programme Manager and was also given a tour of the newly restored premises.

28 December. On 10 - 13 December, the Director-General of ICCROM participated in a conference '28 Years of Archaeology in Bahrain'.

He met Mrs Sheikka May Al Khalifa, Vice Minister of Culture of Bahrain; Mrs Danielle Gattegno Mazzonis, Vice Minister of Culture of Italy; and Pierre Lombard, Director of the French Archaeological Mission to Bahrain.

Also present was Robert Killick, Manager of the Office of Communications at ICCROM, who gave a presentation on 'Recording Bahrain's heritage: from excavation to archive at Saar'.

28 December. On 5 December, the Director-General of ICCROM was received, in Oslo, by Mrs Randi Bendiksen from the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Mrs Kris Endresen, Director of the Nordic World Heritage Centre in Norway. They discussed future institutional collaboration.