Azernews.Az

By Sabina Idayatova

"Cultural Heritage and the EU in 2020 strategy - towards an integrated approach" International European Conference ended in Lithuania's capital Vilnius.

First Deputy Minister of Culture and Tourism Vagif Aliyev headed the Azerbaijani delegation at the event.

According to the ministry, the conference was attended by representatives of the European Commission on cultural heritage preservation, restoration and promotion, the European Parliament, the Council of Europe, officials of the state institutions and civil organizations, as well as local and foreign experts dealing in this field.

Lithuania's Minister of Culture Birutis Sarunas, European Commission Director General for Education, Training, Culture and Youth Jan Tusinski, member of the European Parliament Silvia Costa, and others spoke about the importance of the Conference.

It was noted that the international conference supported by the European Union dedicated to the cultural heritage policy, the importance of cooperation on local, regional, national and pan-European scale was highlighted in this regard at the event.

A resolution was adopted at the end of the conference with a final statement and specific recommendations on how to put the mainstreaming principle into practice.

Within the framework of the conference, Aliyev held bilateral meetings with senior officials of international organizations, government institutions and non-governmental organizations.

During these meetings, Aliyev gave detailed information on the projects implemented in the field of cultural heritage. He stressed Azerbaijan's close cooperation in cultural heritage preservation, restoration and promotion with international organizations, and cited the exchange of international experience in the area as an important step.

With the aim of putting cultural heritage at the heart of public policy agenda and strengthening its position in other sectors, this conference has an ambition to reach as many parties involved as possible. The agenda included three thematic workshops on the added value of cultural heritage in three policy fields: environment, cohesion and agriculture.

A strategy can be developed to better integrate cultural heritage in other policy areas and mainstream it in the EU-policy framework by using cultural heritage as a resource for promoting the objectives of EU 2020.