The 43rd session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee in Baku continued its work with presentation of nominations.

Opening the event, chairman of the Organizing Committee of the session, Minister of Culture of Azerbaijan Abulfas Garayev informed about the nominations that will be discussed and adopted. He noted that by the decision of the bureau, the discussion of nominations of Australia and Bahrain was postponed to July 6.

The representatives of Australia, Spain, Norway, Tunisia, Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Andorra, Switzerland and other countries expressed gratitude to the Azerbaijani government for organizing the 43rd session at a high level.

Stressing that the World Heritage belongs to everyone, the speakers informed that on July 5, at the Baku session, 35 candidate files submitted by member states for inscribing on the World Heritage List will be reviewed. It was noted that 27 submitted files concern cultural, six - natural, and two - mixed (natural and cultural) monuments. Fifteen of these nominations concern the European, and one the African continent.

The speakers emphasized that objective and scientifically based decisions should be made.

The presentations highlighted the need to take into account the destructive impact of existing conflicts on the national heritage seriously and to preserve the balance of the world cultural heritage. Other proposals were also made.

Since errors were identified in many of the nominations, their discussion was postponed.

After the discussions, the process of accepting the submitted nominations to the UNESCO World Heritage List began.

Nominations of natural monuments will be included in the list first followed by mixed one, while cultural monuments will be included in the end.

First, the issue of inclusion of the Migratory Bird Sanctuaries along the Coast of the Yellow Sea-Bohai Gulf was considered. This nomination was supported by 18 countries. Thus, the natural site of migratory birds on this seashore, located between China and the Korean Peninsula, was included in the World Heritage List.

This is the first nomination included in the World Heritage List at the 43rd Baku session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee.

The session continues its work.

The opening ceremony of the 43rd session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee was held at Heydar Aliyev Center in Baku on June 30.

The ceremony was attended by First Vice-President of Azerbaijan, UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador Mehriban Aliyeva.

The 43rd session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee is held till July 10, 2019.

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