As part of preparations for the Arab Group’s participation in the 44th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, to be held in Fuzhou, China, on July 16-31, 2021, the Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization held, on June 28, 2021, the 15th annual preparatory meeting of the Arab Expert Committee on Cultural and Natural Heritage. The meeting was held remotely, and was chaired by Dr. Hayet Guermazi, Director of Education Department, and H.E. Eng. Jaber Al-Qallaf, representative of the National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters in the State of Kuwait which annually hosts the meeting of the Arab Expert Committee.
In addition to the representatives of the Arab States that are members of the World Heritage Committee, namely Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Egypt, the meeting was attended by Mrs. Afifa Zayadi, representative of ALECSO to UNESCO, and Dr. Shaikh Ibrahim bin Hmood Al-Khalifa, from the Arab Regional Centre for World Heritage in Bahrain.
The meeting addressed the files of “As-Salt - The Place of Tolerance and Urban Hospitality” and “Cultural Rock Arts in Ḥimā Najrān”, nominated respectively by Jordan and Saudi Arabia for inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage List during the next session of the Committee. This is in addition to “Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls” file, which is a permanent item on the agenda of the annual meeting of the Arab Expert Committee on Cultural and Natural Heritage.
The participants appreciated the efforts made by Jordan and Saudi Arabia in preparing the nomination files in line with the UNESCO recommendations so as to provide best chances for their acceptance by the UNESCO Committee. They also commended the efforts of Jordan and Palestine to preserve the City of Jerusalem and safeguard its cultural heritage.
At the end of the meeting, it was agreed to follow up and support all these efforts, as well as to hold a meeting on Arab sites inscribed on the List of World heritage in Danger and develop a work program for the removal of these sites from the List.
