UNESCO director general a no-show in joint conference with UNWTO

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Written by Nell Alcantara

SIEM REAP, Cambodia (eTN) – The director general of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Irina Bokova, has missed what has been billed a “historic event”

SIEM REAP, Cambodia (eTN) – The director general of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Irina Bokova, has missed what has been billed a “historic event” – the first ever World Conference on Tourism and Culture.

The event, which is being held here in the tourism capital of Cambodia, has brought together respective members of the UNESCO and the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) along with experts on tourism and culture in one conference under the theme, “Building New Partnerships.”

Irina Bokova was unable to make it to the historic event “due to unforeseen circumstances” but had prepared a video message to delegates.
On behalf of Bokova and UNESCO, Alfredo Perez de Arminan, assistant director general for Culture, addressed over 600 participants which included some 25 or so tourism ministers from various parts of the world. “UNESCO is honored to co-host this groundbreaking event with UNWTO and the government of Cambodia.”

According to the UNESCO official, it is most fitting that the first World Conference on Tourism and Culture is taking place in Cambodia because it is a “country with immense cultural heritage and home to the iconic World Heritage Site of Angkor Wat.

He added: “UNESCO has been working closely with UNWTO for many decades to ensure a sustainable approach to heritage management and tourism in terms of safeguarding, conservation and promotion.”

An interesting comment from the UNESCO official since UNWTO has only become a specialized agency for the United Nations in 2003, as announced during the 15th General Assembly, which was held on October 17-24, 2003 in Beijing, China. Taking this information into account, it is almost hard to believe that it took some 12 years for UNWTO and UNESCO to have a joint conference to discuss and debate on issues relating to their respective fields.

Like Alfredo Perez de Arminan himself said, the conference “demonstrates” UNWTO and UNESCO’s “commitment to furthering this partnership on the basis of shared values and common objectives and the reinforced cooperation between our organizations within the UN system.”

Although the Siem Reap conference is the first official joint partnership between UNWTO and UNESCO, Alfredo Perez de Arminan has nothing but praises for such “partnership.” He said: “We are proud of our shared achievements and we remain committed to consolidating our efforts to promote sustainable tourism and address the new challenges to the protecting natural and cultural heritage in the years to come.”

He added: “UNESCO is deeply committed to strengthening the links between culture and tourism. Our goal is to create a positive dynamic between the two, a dynamic that is mutually reinforcing, that promotes sustainability while benefitting local communities.

“Our starting point is to safeguard culture in its diverse manifestrations ranging from monumnets and works of art to living heritage and contemporary expressions, encompassing traditions, festivals and the performing arts. To carry out this crucial task, we have developed a set of international standard-setting instruments in the field of culture, including the famous World Heritage Convention of 1972, the Convention for the Safeguarding of Underwater Cultural Heritage of 2001, the Convention of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of 2003, the Convention on the Promotion and Protection of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions of 2005 and the Convention on the means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer ownership of Cultural Property of 1970.”

Alfredo Perez de Arminan also said: “UNESCO’s message is very clear: Culture is who we are, and who will also be.”

I suppose from now on, we can expect tourism to be injected into UNESCO’s mix sometime soon as a result of the ongoing “historic event” here in Siem Reap.

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Nell Alcantara

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