Kazakhstan, among the 21 elected members of the World Heritage Committee, took an active part in the work of its 46th session, where decisions were made on the current status of the natural and cultural heritage properties recognized by UNESCO, El.kz cites MFA.
The Kazakh delegation included Zhanar Shaimenova, Secretary General of the National Commission for UNESCO and ICESCO, diplomats of the Permanent Delegation of Kazakhstan to UNESCO and the Embassy of Kazakhstan in India, as well as scientific experts competent on cultural and natural heritage.
The session was inaugurated by Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi and Director-General of UNESCO Audre Azoulay, who both emphasized that the protection of outstanding natural sites and cultural monuments is a shared responsibility of the 196 States Parties to the World Heritage Convention and of the international community as a whole, and expressed their appreciation to the members of the Committee for their work on coordinating globally national and multilateral efforts to this end.
“It is an honor for Kazakhstan to participate in the work of this reputable and influential body of UNESCO. In the upcoming four sessions of the Committee, Kazakh experts are ready to contribute meaningfully to our common efforts to preserve the natural and cultural heritage recognized as important and valuable for the entire humanity,” said the head of the delegation, Permanent Delegate of Kazakhstan to UNESCO Askar Abdrakhmanov.
During the session, 27 new nominations for inscription on the World Heritage List were examined: 5 in the natural heritage category, 2 in the mixed, 19 in the cultural category, and 1 on an emergency basis. Following the deliberations, the Committee inscribed 24 sites on the World Heritage List, while the Palestinian site of Saint Hilarion Monastery / Tell Umm Amer in Gaza was inscribed both on the World Heritage List and on the List of World Heritage in Danger. Reports on the state of conservation of 124 existing World Heritage properties were also examined.
The Kazakh delegation took the floor on 12 agenda items and co-authored 10 decisions of the 46th session of the World Heritage Committee.
Some 3,000 delegates from 165 States Parties to the 1972 Intergovernmental Convention for the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage participated in the large-scale event, held in India for the first time.
On the sidelines of the session, the World Heritage Site Managers Forum was held (July 18–25), which was attended by Bauyrzhan Baisalbaev, Director of the Research and Design Branch of Kazrestavratsiya State Enterprise under the Ministry of Culture and Information of the Republic of Kazakhstan. In addition, as part of the development of the new UNESCO Chair Conservation of Historical and Cultural Heritage, operating at the KazGASA university in Almaty, a student of its Department of Architecture Medet Bertay attended the session too.
The current composition of the World Heritage Committee includes 21 states: Argentina, Belgium, Bulgaria, Greece, India, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, the Republic of Korea, Lebanon, Mexico, Qatar, Rwanda, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Senegal, Turkiye, Ukraine, Viet Nam, and Zambia. Kazakhstan has previously been a member of this prestigious body of UNESCO from 2013 to 2017.
To date, the World Heritage List includes 6 Kazakh natural and cultural heritage sites: Mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi, Petroglyphs of the Archaeological Landscape of Tanbaly, Saryarka – Steppe and Lakes of Northern Kazakhstan, Silk Roads: the Routes Network of Chang’an – Tianshan Corridor, Western Tien-Shan, and Cold Winter Deserts of Turan. Experts currently work on preparation of new nominations to the World Heritage List, including heritage sites of Mangystau and the Routs Network of the Fergana-Syrdarya Corridor of the Silk Roads.