On 31 January, the Director-General, Mounir Bouchenaki participated in a meeting at UNESCO as member of the International Jury for the UNESCO-Greece Melina Mercouri International Prize for the Safeguarding and Management of Cultural Landscape, 2010 edition. Also present was George Abungu, former Director-General of Kenyan National Museums, Mechtild Rossler, Chief of Section, World Heritage Centre, and Tereza Wagner, Prize Coordinator, UNESCO.

From 27-30 January, the Director-General was in Washington to participate in a meeting as part of the Advisory Council of the Smithsonian Institution's Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage (CFCH). Present at the meeting were Richard Kurin, Under Secretary for History, Art, and Culture at the Smithsonian, Daniel Sheehy, Director of CFCH, and members of the Advisory Council, including: J. Scott Raecker (Chair), Executive Director, Drake University Institute for Character Development, Libby O'Connell (Vice Chair), Historian-in-Residence, The History Channel, Enrique R. Lamadrid, Professor of Spanish and Portuguese, University of New Mexico, and Ellen McCulloch-Lovell, President, Marlboro College.

On 27 January the Director-General, Mounir Bouchenaki, participated in high-level conference on “humanitarian diplomacy and international crisis management”, which was organized by the Order of Malta in partnership with the French Navy, and hosted by UNESCO. Among those present were Ms Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO, Mr Ugo Leone, Permanent Observer of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM) to UNESCO and ICCROM, and Mons Francesco Follo, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to UNESCO.

see also

• UNESCO news item
• Conference website
• Video clip of the conference

On 20 January, the Director-General attended a meeting of the UNESCO Venice Office Scientific Council. Those present at the meeting included Mr Engelbert Ruoss, Director of the UNESCO Venice Office, Mr Federico Mayor Zaragoza, former Director-General of UNESCO, and Mr Ernst Iten, Swiss Ambassador and Permanent Delegate to UNESCO. 

On 17 January, the Director-General, Mounir Bouchenaki, was received by H. H. Sheikh Dr Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council of the United Arab Emirates and Ruler of Sharjah, patron of the ATHAR Programme, in order to consolidate the support of the programme and for putting into action necessary steps to sustain its efforts in the Arab region.

The Director General, together with Dr Zaki Aslan, ATHAR Programme Manager, also discussed the achievements made by ATHAR Programme to date and future plans embodied in the extension of the MoU with UAE/Sharjah. The meeting set the basis for future steps to be undertaken to initiate the 3rd phase of ATHAR Programme, with continued support of the UAE.

Mr. Mounir Bouchenaki also met with Mr Mohammad Khamis bin Hareb Al-Muhairi, Director-General of the National Council of Tourism and Antiquities (NCTA) and planned an upcoming workshop to discuss a World Heritage tentative list for the UAE, which will take place in partnership with the ATHAR Programme.

During this mission, the Director-General and Zaki Aslan also met with Mr Peter Jackson, Advisor to the Ruler of Sharjah, and Ms Manal Ataya, Director of Sharjah Museums Department, and visited the Archaeological Museum of Sharjah.