SEE Ministers of Culture approve the Bucharest Declaration

Ministers of Culture of South-Eastern Europe met in Bucharest for the Fifth Ministerial Conference on Cultural Heritage in SEE, in order to re-launch regional cooperation for safeguarding and promoting the shared cultural heritage.

On 20 September 2008 the Ministry of Culture and Religious Affairs of Romania hosted the fifth Ministerial Conference on Cultural Heritage in South-Eastern Europe.

Ministers of Culture and representatives from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, and Serbia, met in Bucharest within the premises of the National Museum of Art in order to reaffirm and reinforce regional cooperation for the enhancement of the shared cultural heritage. The meeting was also attended by Ms. Françoise Rivière, UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Culture, and Mr. Francesco Giro, Undersecretary of State for Cultural Heritage and Activities of Italy.

Representatives of Greece, Turkey, the Council of Europe, and the European Commission participated as observers.

In approaching the conclusion of the first five years of activities since the first Ministerial Conference (Mostar, 2004), participating countries approved a joint Declaration aimed at strengthening their respective commitment to the protection and promotion of South-East European cultural legacy, to be intended as a shared value as well a resource for supporting dialogue, cultural diversity, and sustainable development. In particular, the Bucharest Declaration pointed out the need for a re-definition of the original Mostar Action Plan, to be updated and better tuned on the mutated conditions of the region and its countries.

The conference also served to provide guidance for future activities to be realised as operational follow-up to the conference, with special attention to the implementation of the Trust Fund for Cultural heritage in SEE, funded by the Italian government (Cooperazione Italiana) and managed by the Culture section of UNESCO Office in Venice - BRESCE. In this sense, the Conferences' International Working Group (composed of experts from UNESCO and participating countries) produced a working document reporting the conclusion of its meeting, indicating possible guidelines for future action.

During the event, participants announced that next year's edition of the Conference will be held in Montenegro.

• Bucharest Declaration    (PDF 110 kb)
• IWG conclusions    (PDF 83 kb)