Summit of south east European countries

Athens and Sounion, 12-14 June 2008

Thursday, 12 June 2008, Sounion

A meeting of experts was held in Sounion, Greece, on 12 June 2008.

The following experts attended the meeting: Elena Korka, Greek Ministry of Culture and Constantina Contantinakou, Directorate for Prehistory and Ancient Times at the Greek Ministry of Culture; Rumyana Mihneva, Deputy President of the Bulgarian State Association for Heritage; Roumiana Mitreva, Secretary of the Bulgarian State UNESCO Committee; Virgil Stefan Nitulescu, Romanian Ministry of Culture, Elida Petoshati, Secretary General of the State UNESCO Commission from Albania, Olsy Lafe, Albanian Ministry of Tourism, Culture, Youth and Sports,  Ahmet Adanali, Ankara University; Ipek Ozbek, Urban Planner, Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Turkey; Mehmet Kalpakli from the Turkish Commission at the UNESCO; Borislav Surdic, Serbian Ministry of Culture; Radoslav Buzancic, Conservation Department in Trogir, Croatian Ministry of Culture; Mounir Bouchenaki, Director-General of ICCROM; Ann Belinda Preis, Senior Programme Officer from the UNESCO headquarters in Paris; Mikhael de Thyse, Council of Europe Directorate for Culture, Cultural and Natural Heritage, and Mirela M. Handan, Commission to Preserve National Monuments of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Programme

16:00-18:00       First meeting of experts – presentation of the Declaration of Athens - Intercultural Encounters on Maritime, River and Lake Routes of South East Europe

18:00-18:30       Break

18:30-20:00       Second meeting of experts - presentation of the Declaration of Athens - Intercultural Encounters on Maritime, River and Lake Routes of South East Europe                                                                       

20:30-21:15       Organised tour of the archaeological site of Sounion

22:00    Dinner in the Grecotel Hotel, Sounion, organised by the Greek Ministry of Culture

The first and the second meeting of experts were chaired by Elena Korka from the Greek Ministry of Culture.

The text of the proposal for the Declaration of Athens was presented in the meetings. The working methodology included discussion of each paragraph of the Declaration Proposal, of its harmonization with the international conventions on heritage and terminology, positive practices, the possibility for applying it in the countries and of building an international cooperation platform.

The countries were invited to launch project proposals regarding spiritual and tangible heritage on water routes, for which a pilot projects fund would be set up. Analysis of the proposals would result in the definition of the criteria and mechanisms of co-operation.

Elena Korka, a representative from Greece, presented a proposal for the development of projects involving olive which has been represented either in the tangible heritage through cultural landscapes, or in the spiritual heritage through folk tradition, songs, art works, festivals, etc.

The representative from Bosnia and Herzegovina presented a proposal for the development of a co-operation project relating to bridges and a project proposal regarding national monuments on the rivers of the Adriatic (inscribed on the World Heritage Tentative List) and Black Sea basin.

Friday, 13 June 2008, Athens

11:00-12:30       First plenary session, Zappeion Exhibition Hall

13:00-13:45       Organised visit to the Benaki Museum

14:30-15:45       Lunch in the Aegli Restaurant, organised by the Secretary General of the Greek Ministry of Culture

16:00-17:30       Second plenary session, Zappeion Exhibition Hall

                        Presentation and adoption of the Declaration of Athens

20:00-21:15       Dinner in the Orizontes Restaurant, Lycabettus Hill, organised by the Greek Ministry of Culture

The sixth summit of the heads of states of South East Europe was held in Athens on June 13, 2008. It was organised by Karolos Papoulias, President of Greece, and Koichiro Matsuura, Director-General of the UNESCO, in cooperation with the Council of Europe.

            Michael Liapis, the Greek Minister of Culture, opened the plenary session.

The following state presidents took part in the plenary session: Bamir Topi, President of Albania, Haris Silajdzic, Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgi Parvanov, President of the Republic of Bulgaria, Stjepan Mesic, President of the Republic of Croatia, Filip Vujanovic, President of Montenegro, Boris Tadic, President of Serbia, Mehmet Aydin, Prime Minister of the Republic of Turkey, Romanian Minister of Culture, Ambassador of Moldavia in Greece, Koichiro Matsuura, Director-General of the UNESCO, Gabriella Battaini-Dragoni, Director- General of the Council of Europe Department for Culture, Education and Heritage.

The Declaration of Athens was signed at the end of the session (Attachment 3).

Saturday, 14  June 2008, Athens

10:00-11:00       Organised visit to the Acropolis of Athens 

11:30-1230        Organised visit to the new Acropolis Museum

In addition to the programme part, the representative of Bosnia and Herzegovina had the following meetings with the representatives of international organisations and countries of the region:

- With Mounir Bouchenaki, Director-General of ICCROM, she talked about technical support by ICCROM through the programme of specialisation and training. Bouchenaki also discussed his recent visit to Mostar and the positive impression he had gained in regard to the resolution of the issue of landscape integration of the Ruza Hotel.

- With Elena Korka from the Greek Ministry of Culture she discussed cooperation within the project of integrated rehabilitation of the Hellenistic town of Daorson in Osanici.

- Radoslav Buzancic from Croatia and Borislav Surdic from Serbia were informed of the intention of the Commission to Preserve National Monuments to nominate the stecak necropolises for the inscription on the World Heritage Tentative List in form of an interstate nomination between Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Croatia and Montenegro; possible cooperation was also discussed. 

- With Mikhael de Thyse from the Council of Europe she discussed further cooperation within the Regional Programme for Heritage in South East Europe.

- Rumyana Mihneva from Bulgaria offered financial support for the participation of archaeologists from Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Summer School of Archaeological Research and Conservation held in Bulgaria.

- Ann Belinda Preis, Senior Programme Officer from the UNESCO headquarters in Paris, and Engelbert Ruoss, Director of the UNESCO Office in Venice, were informed about the nominations of monuments from Bosnia and Herzegovina for the inscription on the World Heritage Tentative List.

- Milovan Blagojevic, Ambassador of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Greece, was informed about the activities of the Commission to Preserve National Monuments, the Commission’s exhibition named The Vanishing Treasure and the project of integrated rehabilitation of the Hellenistic Town of Daorson in Osanici, the projects in which co-operation is possible with the Greek Ministry of Culture.

The representative of Bosnia and Herzegovina handed 10 copies of the publication Hercegovina to the experts and the Ambassador of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Greece. She expressed her gratitude to Gabriella Battaini-Dragoni from the Council of Europe for the co-operation within the Regional Programme for Heritage in South East Europe and handed copies of the Commission Year Book, Heritage I and II. The copies of Heritage I and II were also handed to Elena Korka, representative of the Greek Ministry of Culture, who organised the meeting of experts.