The Ministry of Culture and Media (MKM) announced today that Durmitor and Kotor are not threatened with deletion from the UNESCO World Heritage List.
"None of the Montenegrin protected areas are on the so-called red lists, nor are they threatened with deletion from the UNESCO World Heritage List. Cooperation with UNESCO takes place in accordance with the procedure and high-quality dynamics, intensive exchange in all segments of the organization's competence. When it comes to Kotor and in Durmitor, regular and periodic reports are submitted, and work is being done to ensure protection in accordance with conventions, UNESCO standards and national legislation," the statement of the Ministry of Interior emphasizes.
Director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Milan Gazdić confirmed earlier today to "Vijesta", referring to his unofficial knowledge, that Kotor will lose its status as a natural and cultural-historical area on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
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President of Kotor Municipality Vladimir Jokić claims that this is not true. "Kotor will not lose its status, nor is it threatened," he wrote on Facebook.
Gazdić stated that the next UNESCO summit in Riyadh, in Saudi Arabia, will be "difficult for Montenegro" and that the National Park "Durmitor" will be put on the red list. At the conference "Protection of nature and environment, state, importance and perspectives", he said that it was a defeat for our country.
The MKM said that due to decades of neglect and bad practices, Montenegro has a lot to do and provide a systemic response in order to ensure the protection of Kotor and Durmitor in a high-quality manner, and that responsibility for that process must be shared by governments, local governments and political parties that actively participate in the creation of local and national policies.
"Ambassador Ivan Ivanišević, the permanent delegate of Montenegro to UNESCO, is participating in the 45th session of the World Heritage Committee in Riyadh. Montenegro is not a member of the Committee in this mandate, so according to the procedure, the opportunity for our representatives to address is also closed, for this reason the participation of the Montenegrin representative it was primarily used for communication with the Committee's secretariat and other experts," the announcement reads.
The MKM stated that separately, apart from cooperation on protected areas and elements of intangible heritage, Montenegro is particularly active in promoting the standards and values of UNESCO and achieves adequate visibility and influence in all fields of activity.
"We are a member of several friendship groups within UNESCO, and especially active in the one for Ukraine, so we have on several occasions had a proactive role and addresses on behalf of allies in order to affirm the need to protect the cultural and historical heritage in Ukraine, after the aggression by the Russian Federation The fact that Montenegro has been honored to host an important workshop on the preservation of cultural heritage, and this meeting will be held in Kotor at the end of October, and the participation of the director of the World Heritage Center is also being considered. , says the statement of the MKM.
From that government department, they stated that the Capital of Cetinje, with the support of the MKM, submitted an application for membership in the UNESCO Creative Cities Network, in the field of design, and that if the application is successful, it would be the first membership of a local government from the Western Balkans in this prestigious network. .
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