3rd Expert Working Group Meeting for the Old City of Herat and the Archaeological Remains of Jam World Heritage Property

The UNESCO World Heritage Centre will be holding the 3rd Expert Working Group Meeting for the Old City of Herat and the Archaeological Remains of the Jam World Heritage Site at the Museo d'Arte Orientale in Turin, Italy, from 4 to 6 September 2012. More than 20 world-famous experts, as well as representatives of donor countries, Afghan experts and high-ranking officials from the government of Afghanistan, will take part in the Meeting.

The Expert Working Group Meeting aims to present the outcomes of the safeguarding activities carried out by UNESCO at the Herat and Jam sites over the past decade, thanks to generous financial contributions received from the governments of Italy, Switzerland and Norway. It also aims to adopt recommendations not only for achieving the Desired State of Conservation of the Jam World Heritage property, but also for ensuring that appropriate future activities are carried out to safeguard the cultural heritage of both sites.

The Meeting will be an opportunity to review not only safeguarding activities carried out by UNESCO, but also other bilateral academic and conservation activities carried out in Afghanistan by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture and German, French and Italian research teams over previous years. It will thus play a significant coordinating role for international co-operation in the field of the Afghan cultural heritage, in line with the mandate entrusted to UNESCO by the Afghan government. The Meeting is also intended to provide an opportunity to raise funds from potential donors for new UNESCO projects to safeguard Afghanistan's cultural heritage.

On the occasion of this Expert Working Group Meeting, a photographic exhibition entitled UNESCO's Activities in Afghanistan - Jam and Herat in the Pictures of Andrea Bruno is also being organized. The exhibition will feature activities undertaken by UNESCO in Afghanistan over recent decades, and the official opening, presided over by the Mayor of Turin, will take place at the Museo d'Arte Orientale in Turin at 18:30 on 4 September 2012.

The Expert Working Group Meeting and photographic exhibition have been organized thanks to generous funding from the government of Italy within the framework of the UNESCO/Italy Funds-in-Trust Project, Emergency Consolidation of the Endangered Monuments in Herat and Jam, Afghanistan. The Expert Working Group Meeting has been jointly organized by the UNESCO World Heritage Centre and the Museo d'Arte Orientale, in close collaboration with the UNESCO Office in Kabul and the Permanent Delegation of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to UNESCO.