Ministers of South-East Europe: Resolution on the protection of heritage

Last week, there was a conference in the city of Ohrid of the Ministers of Culture of SE Europe, “Cultural heritage, a bridge towards a common future.” At this conference which was held under the auspices of UNESCO, the Ministers of Culture of Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, Romania, Moldavia and of the host country Macedonia were present. The Minister of Culture of Italy also participated, as the biggest sponsor of the projects of the Regional Bureau of Venice, and representatives of the Stability Pact, the EU and the UNO.
The Ministers reported on the commitments of the respective governments to preserve and promote cultural heritage. “Albania has decided on the allocation of a fund of 1.2 million dollars to be used to finance restoration projects of the Historical Centre of the city of Gjirokastra. The project is expected to begin implementation in January 2007, in cooperation with UNESCO. For its part, the Albanian state has accorded an additional fund to restore the Historical Centre and Castle of this city-about 500 thousand dollars,” said the Minister of Culture Mr. Leskaj. Minister Leskaj took advantage of the occasion to thank the Italian government for its aid of 1.5 million dollars given to UNESCO to open the school of restoration in Albania to be inaugurated on 11 December. At the end, the Conference approved a Resolution which has defined concrete duties for each participating state to preserve unique values of the region, even more so when they have been proclaimed UNESCO monuments under its protection.