St Petersburg, Russia

4 November. On 29-30 August, Professor Mikhail Piotrovsky, Director of the State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg, invited the Director-General to participate to the Fifteenth International Advisory Board Meeting of the Museum.

Present were: Dr Edmund P. Pillsbury, Director Emeritus, Kimbell Art Museum, United States; Mrs Ana Maria Petrioli Tofani, Former Director, Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy; Mr Henri Loyrette, President and Director, Musée du Louvre, Paris, France; Mr Alfred Pacquement, Director, National Museum of Modern Art, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France; Mr Stuart Gibson, Secretary, International Advisory Board.

Cyrene, Libya

4 November. On 22-23 August, at the invitation of the Department of Antiquities and with the support of The Maria Nobrega Foundation and Mr Hassan Tatanaki, Chairman, Challenger Ltd, Libya, a special visit was organized for UNESCO’s World Heritage Center and ICCROM in order to ensure a technical follow-up to the Cyrene Declaration launched by Engineer Seif Al Islam Al Gaddafi in September 2007 at the World Heritage Site of Cyrene.

Among other experts, present also were: Giuma Anag, Director General, Libyan Department of Antiquities; Francesco Bandarin, Director of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre; Azzedine Beschaouch, Scientific Consultant, ICCROM; Prof Giorgio Croci, professor at the Università La Sapienza; Henry Cleere, former ICOMOS evaluator; and Serenella Ensoli, Chief Architect Italian mission to Libya.

Tripoli, Libya

4 November. On 21 August, the Director-General participated in a technical meeting on the rehabilitation of the Old City of Tripoli with officials from the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities and from the Department of Antiquities.

Present also were officials from the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, ICOMOS and the Global Heritage Foundation. The mission also included a technical visit to the new heritage museum of Tripoli.

The group was received by Dr Giuma Anag, Director, Department of Antiquities; Mr Hassan Tatanaki and Ms Yara Tatanaki, Green Mountain Conservation and Development Authority (GMCDA); Mrs Elizabeth Nobrega and Mr Michael Carrington, The Maria Nobrega Foundation.