Beijing, China

20 August. From 21 to 24 July, the Director-General participated in the Governing Board meetings of the World Heritage Training and Research Institute, at the invitation of Mr Zhang Xinsheng, Deputy Minister of Education of China and Chairman of the Chinese National Commission for UNESCO.

Also present were:

• Fang Maotian, Secretary-General, Chinese National Commission for UNESCO
• Shan Qixiang, Director State Administration of Cultural Heritage of China
• Lin Jianhua, Vice President, Beijing University
• Dong Qi, Assistant President, Tongji University
• Zhu Jiansheng, Vice Mayor, Suzhou Municipality, Jiangsu Province, China
• Wang Fengwu, Inspector, Ministry of Housing and Rural-Urban Development, China
• Wu Zhiqiang, Director, WHITR-AP (Shanghai Centre)
• SUN Hua, Director, WHITR-AP (Beijing Centre)
• Zhou Suning, Director, WHITR-AP (Suzhou Centre)
• Cai Mantang, Secretary-General, WHITR-AP Secretariat
• Li Yansong, Director/Assistant
  President, Beijing University
• Lu Zhi, Professor of School of Sciences, Beijing University
• Lu Zhou, Professor of Architecture Department, Tsinghua University
• Ma Keping, Director of Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences
• WU Jiang, Vice Director, Shanghai Urban Planning Administration
• Francesco Bandarin, Director of the World Heritage Centre
• Choi Jong Deok, Director of International Affairs, Division Cultural Heritage Administration Government Complex, Korea
• Michael Osborne, Professor and former President, La Trobe University, Australia
• Michael Petzet, President, ICOMOS
• David Sheppard, Head of Programme on Protected Areas, IUCN
  

Cartagena, Colombia

20 August. From 14 to 17 July, the Director-General participated in the Launch Meeting of the LATAM Programme - Conservation of Cultural Heritage in Latin America and the Caribbean Programme (2008-2019).

Also present were the Minister of Culture of Colombia, Maria Paula Moreno Zapata; the Director of the Dirección de Patrimonio, Maria Claudia López Sorzano; the Secretary-General of the Istituto Italo Latinoamericano (IILA), H.E. Ambassador Bruni; the Ambassador of Colombia in Italy, H.E. Sabas Pretelt de la Vega; and the Secretary-General of Unión Latina, H.E. Ambassador Bernardino Ossio.

Further information on the meeting: news archive

La Habana, Cuba

19 August. The Director-General undertook a mission to Cuba at the invitation of the Ministry of Culture from 10 to 12 July.

He met the Vice-Minister of Culture, Fernando Rojas, and the Director of the Museum of Fine Arts, Moraima Clavijo Colom.

At the Centro Nacional de Conservación, Restauración y Museología (CENCREM) he met with the Director, Maria Mercedes García Santana and her team of conservation professionals.

He visited the UNESCO Regional Office for Culture where he met with the Director, Herman Van Hoff, and colleagues.

He participated in the 2008 Italo Calvino Prize ceremony which took place at the Unión de Escritores y Artistas de Cuba (UNEAC). Also present were: the Italian Ambassador in Cuba, H.E. Domenico Vecchioni, and the Cuban Ambassador in Rome, H.E. Rodney Alejandro Lopez Clemente.

He visited the old city of La Habana and saw the conservation works carried out by the Oficina del Historiador by Eusebio Leal Spengler, Historiador.

He met the President of the Consejo Nacional de Patrimonio Cultural, Margarita Ruiz Brandi, in the Hemingway Museum.

World Heritage Committee, Quebec, Canada

19 August. On 2 - 10 July, the Director-General participated in the 32nd Session of the World Heritage Committee.

Christina Cameron, Director General of National Historic Sites at Parks Canada chaired the meeting. She shared the podium with Mounir Bouchenaki, Director-General of ICCROM; Francesco Bandarin, Director of the World Heritage Centre; H.E. Ambassador Mr Seiichi Kondo, Permanent Delegate of Japan to UNESCO; and Mr Zhang Xinsheng, Chairman of the Executive Board of UNESCO and Vice Minister of Education of the Government of China.

Present were the Directors of the Consultative Organs of the Convention: Mr Michael Petzet, President of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS); Julia Marton-Lefèvre, Director General of the World Conservation Union (IUCN).

A presentation on training and research in the Asia Pacific region was made by Mr Zhang Xinsheng, Chairman of the Executive Board of UNESCO and Vice Minister of Education of the Government of China.