Culture Minister Shaikha Mai bint Mohammed Al Khalifa visited France last week and took part in the ongoing preparations for the 35th World Heritage Committee meeting, due to be held at the UNESCO headquarters from June 19 to 29 under the chairmanship of the Kingdom.
The meeting was first set to be hosted by the Kingdom but after the declaration of the State of National Safety in the Kingdom, Shaikha Mai and UNESCO Director General decided to transfer it to Paris.
Bahrain’s insistence to chair the meeting aimed to promote the Kingdom’s rich culture and heritage and prepare for the cultural function of 2012 when Manama will be the Arab Culture Capital.
Shaikh Mai held a number of meetings with key cultural figures who hailed the important role the kingdom plays in the cultural field.
President of the Arab World Institute Dominique Baudis hailed Bahrain’s pioneering cultural role regionally and globally.
As to the French Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand, he asserted that his country is interested in the cultural movement in the kingdom, affirming that he admired Bahrain’s advanced cultural infrastructure during his last visit there.
Arab cultural representatives in Paris also hailed the Kingdom’s cultural role and took pride in Shaikh Mai’s chairmanship of the 35th World Heritage Committee meeting.
Shaikha Mai also met UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova and discussed with her means of further bolstering cooperation between the Kingdom of Bahrain and UNESCO in the field of culture and heritage. Moreover, both sides reviewed issues related to the 35th World Heritage meeting’s agenda.
Shaikha Mai discussed with Bokova topics concerning the maintenance of sites registered on the world heritage list and selection of new sites based on the accredited criteria, noting that the number of sites have reached 66 until now