From 21-27 November the Director-General, Mounir Bouchenaki, was on mission in Cambodia. During his visit he attended the 17th Plenary Session of the of the International Coordination Committee for the Safeguarding and the Development of the Historic Site of Angkor (ICC-Angkor), chaired by H.E. Mr Jean-François Desmazières, Ambassador of France to Cambodia and H.E. Mr Masafumi Kuroki, Ambassador of Japan to Cambodia. The Cambodian delegation was lead by H.E. Mr Sok An, Deputy Prime Minister and President of the APSARA National Authority.

Also present at the meeting were Ms Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO, Mr Francesco Bandarin, Assistant-Director General for Culture and Director of the World Heritage Centre, Ms Anne Lemaistre, new Director of the UNESCO Office in Phnom Penh, Mr Hou Weidong, Deputy Head of the Chinese Academy of Cultural Heritage, and Terou Jinnai, Head of Office, UNESCO Office in Phnom Penh. The technical visits to the various sites were led by an ad hoc group of experts that included Giorgio Croci and Pierre André Lablaude.

During his stay, the Director-General signed a Memorandum of Understanding for training in conservation of cultural heritage in Cambodia. This was done in the presence of Mr Sok An.

From 18-19 November, the Director-General, Mounir Bouchenaki took part in a workshop organized by ICCROM and Archeo Magazine entitled, Cultural Heritage: Conservation and Communication, a Global Challenge. This took place during the XIII Borsa Mediterranea del Turismo Archeologico (Mediterranean Exchange of Archaeological Tourism) in Paestum, Italy.

See also

• 12 October 2010 news

From 29-30 November, the Director-General, Mounir Bouchenaki attended a meeting organized by ARCo (Associazione per il Recupero del Costruito Storico) on responsibility in the conservation of historic buildings. The meeting was organized to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the creation of ARCo.

From 10-14 November, the Director-General visited Israel, attending a workshop on, 'The Cross-Cultural City: urban context and cultural diversity', an MUrbDES 2010 urban design event celebrating the UNESCO International Year for the Rapprochement of Cultures at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute. Mr Bouchenaki gave a presentation on 'Cultural Heritage and Management - challenges and realities'. In addition to the workshop, the mission consisted of site visits and study tours. The Director-General also met with the following people:

• Zev Druckman, Head, Graduate Programme in Urban Design, Bezalel Academy, Israel
• Michael Turner, Department of Architecture Bezalel Academy, Israel
• Francesco Bandarin, Assistant-Director General for Culture, UNESCO
• Jyoti Hosagrahar, Sustainable Urbanism International at Columbia University, USA and Bangalore, India
• Hamdan Taha, Director-General, Palestinian Department of Antiquities and Cultural Heritage
• Shuka Dorfman, Director-General, Israel Antiquities Authority
• Daniel Bar-Elli, Secretary-General, Israel National Commission for UNESCO
• Raanan Kislev, Director of the Conservation Department, Israel Antiquities Authority and ICCROM Council Member
• Minja Yang, President, Raymond Lemaire International Centre for Conservation at Louvain University, Belgium