Cities of world cultural heritage face the negative sides of what tourism brings, and therefore the meetings of their representatives are an opportunity to, through the exchange of experiences, find solutions to common problems, assessed the mayor of Kotor, Vladimir Jokić.
On the occasion of the Meeting of the Board of Directors of the Organization of World Heritage Cities OWHC, which is being held in Kotor, he said that representatives of cities from all continents are attending that meeting.
"There are cities like Quebec, Krakow, Vienna, Brussels. In this way, it is shown how much Kotor is recognized as a world heritage city. What will further emphasize today's meeting is the arrival of the mayors of Dubrovnik, Ohrid and Mostar, who will hold a joint meeting with representatives of the Board of Directors of World Heritage Cities", announced Jokić.
As he said, the meeting will be preceded by the joint signing of a memorandum of friendship.
"I think that in this way we will determine the position of Kotor in the region, together with other cities recognized by UNESCO as world heritage cities. In this way, we will show this Organization and its members that we are committed to preserving world heritage and improving life in cities that are under the protection of UNESCO," said Jokić.
In Kotor, as he explained, cities connected by a common heritage and cities that, as he said, represent the memory of the world, met.
"And Kotor, as one of the cities that is recognized as such, contributes to all of this. This is one of a series of activities that Kotor implements in this goal. Last year, we participated in the Summit in Florence where this topic was discussed. So this is a continuation that shows our commitment to cooperation between cities and states and to the improvement of the cultural heritage of our cities," explained Jokić.
He said that Kotor and the Bay of Kotor-Risan was inscribed on the World Heritage List by UNESCO in 1979, after a devastating earthquake.
"Kotor is registered as a cultural and historical landscape. Therefore, what the world has recognized in Kotor is not only the Walls and not only the city of Satri, but the unique value that the entire surroundings and the entire Gulf carry with them," explained Jokić.
He reminded that last year the Walls of Kotor, along with the walls of six other cities from Italy and Croatia, were inscribed on the list of world cultural heritage.
"In the coming period, we expect a third entry from Kotor on the UNESCO list of intangible heritage. We expect the Bokel Navy to be recognized by UNESCO and in the coming years to be entered as the third entry of the town on the UNESCO list. This, I believe, places us as the city with the most enrollments per capita, if we know that we have around 20 inhabitants," said Jokić.
According to him, Kotor also faces the negative sides of what tourism brings and "the world's interest in the city".
"That's why I think that meetings like this are the places where we can come to common solutions, exchanging experiences and the ways in which problems that are common to us are overcome in other cities", explained Jokić.
The General Secretary of the Organization of World Cultural Heritage Cities, Denis Ricard, said that the Organization has members all over the world and gathers 304 cities.
"Kotor is of course one of them. "Once a year we have a meeting of the Board of Directors, and it is right here today where we will discuss technical matters, as well as problems related to world cultural heritage cities," said Ricard.
He said that world cultural heritage cities share a large number of problems and, as he said, traffic is one of them.
"Very often we come across a large number of tourists in our cities. Of course, every mayor is for tourism and it increases the money coming into the city, but at the same time sometimes it damages the world heritage and there has to be some balance. This network can use the exchange of experiences, when we talk about the problems that exist and to exchange ideas in terms of trying to solve those problems", Ricard believes.
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