Director-General of CRIHAP Liang Bin participates in a discussion at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris. [Photo by Chen Yajuan/CRIHAP]

The Second Coordination Meeting with UNESCO Category 2 Institutes and Centres (C2Cs) and UNITWIN/UNESCO Chairs Related to the UNESCO Culture Sector was held at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris from Nov 23 to 24, 2017.

Organized by UNESCO’s Conventions Common Services Unit, representatives from UNESCO’s Heritage Division, Division for Creativity, Section of Higher Education along with Policy and Statutory Meetings Unit attended. A total of 13 C2Cs and 35 UNITWIN/UNESCO chairs concerned sent almost 100 delegates to attend the event. A delegation of the International Training Centre for Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Asia-Pacific under the auspices of UNESCO (CRIHAP), led by Director-General Liang Bin, took part in the meeting.

UNESCO’s Assistant Director-General for Culture Francesco Bandarin addressed the opening ceremony and announced that a new Director-General of UNESCO had been appointed and the culture sector would undergo reorganization. Summarizing recent achievements and challenges, Bandarin also stressed the vital role of C2Cs and UNITWIN/UNESCO chairs in realizing UNESCO’s strategies and plans.

The delegates highlighted the core issues, including how culture can promote implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the New Urban Agenda, the role of heritage in sustainable development, the methods C2Cs and UNITWIN/ UNESCO chairs could be used to facilitate the aforementioned two agendas, information gathering during capacity-building activities as well as online data exchange and coordination. Representatives from the headquarters also conducted active interactions with delegates.

Centering around culture and sustainable development, the meeting had four sessions themed on cultural and natural heritage, intangible cultural heritage, creativity as well as culture in emergencies.

On behalf of CRIHAP, Liang Bin participated in the discussion on “intangible cultural heritage”. Taking capacity building workshops in Samoa and Mongolia as examples, Liang shared CRIHAP’s experience in safeguarding cultural diversity together with promoting cultural and social development in target countries by running trainings. He also hoped that joint efforts with partners and UNESCO headquarters could further fulfill capacity-building strategies in the Asia-Pacific.

An online platform of UNESCO chairs and C2Cs known as “Network of UNITWIN/UNESCO Chairs and C2Cs related to Culture”, an achievement of the first coordination meeting in 2015, officially opened on Nov 24, 2017. Parties working in cultural circles could share their insights, research information and data, and activities on the platform.

The meeting opened an important channel for partners to share their experience and knowledge of culture and sustainable development. Through this channel, C2Cs and UNITWIN/UNESCO chairs could carry out effective cooperation in joint research and capacity building activities, which would further enhance their partnership.