At the meeting of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee in Bahrain, decisions related to the Natural and Cultural-Historical Area of Kotor and the Stećka-Medieval Cemetery were adopted.
Montenegro has four properties inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List - Kotor Natural and Cultural-Historical Area, Durmitor National Park, Stećke - medieval cemeteries (three sites within the multinational nomination: the Greek Cemetery and Bare Žugića in Žabljak, as well as the Greek Cemetery in Plužine ) and Venetian fortifications from the XNUMXth to the XNUMXth century (Kotor fortress within the multinational nomination).
"Previous decisions of the Committee were particularly important for the Natural and Cultural-Historical Area of Kotor, and especially the Decision from Istanbul from 2016, when the state was set a number of requirements that had to be fulfilled by the end of the next reporting period (December 01, 2017) This year's Decision gives a general assessment that important processes have been initiated and that progress has been made, but that there are a number of threats that significantly affect the exceptional, universal value, which is why additional commitment is required in the application of the Convention, the continuation of the moratorium, additional clarifications in relation to certain issues, the organization of a reactive monitoring mission to the Area, as well as updating the Report by the end of January 2019, so that the final Decision on Kotor would be made at the Committee's meeting next year," the Ministry of Culture said in a statement.
The topics of this year's meeting, as it is added, will also be submitted materials related to the addition of the Tentative List of Montenegro. The previous Tenative List (the so-called Waiting List) contained the archaeological sites of Duklju and Stari Bar, the Biogradska Gora National Park, and the Historical Center of Cetinje.
This year, materials related to the Old Town of Ulcinj and the Beech Forests were sent, as an announcement for joining the existing multinational inscription on the UNESCO list. The tentative list will be confirmed at the Committee, and the procedure dictates that the goods must be on the Tentative List for at least one year, after which the procedure for creating nomination files can begin.
The Committee will make a Decision related to the extension of the nomination of the Venetian fortifications to the Forte Mare fortress in Herceg Novi, which was submitted in January of this year, but the Draft Decision says that it is too early for this entry, and that it is necessary to implement a series of measures in order to carried out the restoration of the fortress before its inscription on UNESCO.
The Montenegrin delegation to the Committee is led by the Ambassador of Montenegro to UNESCO, Dragica Ponorac, and the delegation consists of the Director General for Cultural Heritage, Aleksandar Dajković, the President of the Municipality of Kotor, Vladimir Jokić, and the Secretary General of the Montenegrin National Commission for UNESCO, Milica Nikolić.
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