Beijing, China

20 October. On 26 - 28 September, the Director-General participated as a Juror in the 2008 Mondialogo School Contest.

The contest brought together more than 60,000 students from 140 countries and has thus become the largest worldwide school contest which aims at promoting intercultural dialogue.

Other members of the jury were: Hans d'Orville, Assistant Director-General for Strategic Planning of UNESCO; Ulrich Walker, Chairman and CEO, Daimler Northeast Asia; Frank Fredercks, first Olympic medallist of Namibia; Sheikha Haya Rashed Al-Khalifa, lawyer and diplomat, Bahrain; Kenizé Mourad, journalist, Le Monde Diplomatique, daughter of a Turkish princess married to an Indian Rajah; and, Yang Lang, Chairperson of Sun Media Group and Sun Culture Foundation.

New Dehli, India

16 October. On 21 - 25 September, the Director-General participated in the inaugural session of the ICOM-CC Triennial Conference and delivered a keynote address at the Vigyan Bhavan.

He participated in the SOIMA meeting at the National Museum Institute and delivered another keynote speech.

He visited the Taj Mahal, a World Heritage Site in Agra and attended the opening of a workshop on traditional mortar for the restoration of the Humayun Mausoleum in Delhi.

He also participated in a meeting organized in the Archaeological Survey of India by Mr Anshu Vaish, Director General.

Brussels, Belgium

16 October. On 19 September, Mrs Myriam Serck-Dewaide invited the Director-General to the 60th anniversary of the Institut Royal du Patrimoine Artistique (IRPA), Brussels, Belgium. H.I.R.H. Princess Astrid attended the opening ceremony.

Also present were: Mrs Sabine Laruelle, Minister of Scientific Policy; Mrs Véronique Paulus de Châtelet, Governor of the Brussels Region; Stefan Simon, Director of the Rathgen Institute of Berlin (Council Member of ICCROM); and Mrs Liliane Masschelein-Kleiner, former Director of IRPA (Former Council Member of ICCROM ).

Rome, Italy

22 September. On 17 September, the Director-General met with Mrs Gabriella Battaini-Dragoni, Director General of Education, Culture and Heritage, Youth and Sport Coordinator for Intercultural Dialogue, Council of Europe.

Rome, Italy

22 September. On 11 September, the Ambassador of Brazil in Rome, H.E. Ademar Bahadian invited Mrs Elisabeth Nobrega de Araujo Tsakuroglou, President, The Maria Nobrega Foundation, Mr Michael Carrington, Founder and Co-President, and the Director-General to the Brazilian Embassy in Piazza Navona. They discussed possible collaboration with the ICCROM LATAM Programme.