12 March

• Culture must be an integral part of reconstruction, says Director-General after Haiti visit
  “Culture must go hand in hand with humanitarian aid. It must be present in Haiti’s reconstruction strategies because culture and development are closely linked,” stressed Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO, as she ended her official visit to Haiti yesterday. On her second and last day in Haiti, Ms Bokova met with Marie-Laurence Jocelyn Lassègue, Minister of Culture and Communication, and Daniel Elie, Director of ISPAN, institute for safeguarding national heritage. She then went to Jacmel, city in the southeast that is on Haiti’s Tentative List of properties to be proposed for inscription on UNESCO’s World Heritage List. The city suffered severe damage during the 12 January earthquake.
  More information: http://www.unesco.org/new/en/media-services/single-view/news/culture_must_be_an_integral_part_of_reconstruction_
  says_director_general_after_haiti_visit/back/18256/

11 March

• Director-General in Haiti to support country’s recovery
  “I have come to express UNESCO’s solidarity with Haiti,” said Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO, on Tuesday, the first day of her 48-hour official visit to Port-au Prince. “I am here to see the situation with my own eyes and to see how UNESCO can best support the government of Haiti at this crucial time for the Haitian people.” During the day, Ms Bokova met with the Prime Minister, Jean-Max Bellerive, and the Minister of Education, Joel Desrosiers Jean-Pierre, as well as representatives of non-governmental organizations in order to design and deliver projects that will help to repair the country’s social and cultural fabric.
  More information: http://www.unesco.org/new/en/media-services/single-view/news/director_general_in_haiti_to_support_countrys_recovery/back/18256/

9 March

• UNESCO Director-General to visit Haiti
  Director-General Irina Bokova is to pay an official visit to Haiti on 9-10 March, to express solidarity and discuss a recovery strategy with the country’s leaders after January’s devastating earthquake. She will also visit projects supported by UNESCO and meet key stakeholders in education, culture and science to discuss further cooperation. UNESCO has been working in close cooperation with the Haitian authorities, to develop emergency and medium-term projects within the coordinated United Nations response to the disaster. “I am determined that our Organization responds as fully and as swiftly as possible to the needs of the Haitian people”, said Ms Bokova. “My visit will serve to forge closer links with our partners in Haiti and signals my unwavering commitment to stand by Haiti in its time of need”.
  More information: http://www.unesco.org/new/en/unesco/about-us/who-we-are/director-general/news-single-view/news/director_general_to_visit_haiti/back/21093/

4 March

• Dinner offered by the French Minister of Culture in honor of Mrs. Irina BOKOVA, Director-General of UNESCO, in the presence of the solicitors of the 33 French World Heritage Sites, Paris (France)
  In February 1st, 2010, Mr. Frédéric MITTERRAND, Minister of Culture and Communications, offered a dinner in the Ministry reception rooms in honor of Mrs. Irina Bokiva, Director-General of UNESCO. All the representatives and solicitors of the 33 French sites registered in the World Heritage List of UNESCO got together as a result of the event. The speeches delivered were about the efforts for the digitalization of heritage, the non-centralized cooperation and the importance of the intangible heritage: “(…) as all heritage is intangible, and pierced from side to side due to considerations and aesthetic intentions but also due to ethical, spiritual, and philosophical ones, whether they be made specific in stone, in action or in the voice. All heritage is obviously concrete and symbolic at the same time”, stated the Minister. With this aim, Antoinette MAYOL, Director of ACIR COMPOSTELA, represented “Ways of Santiago of Compostela in France”. This meeting, as it normally happens in the yearly gatherings of the French World Heritage Sites, presented itself as a new opportunity for exchanges among owners and solicitors of the goods, the State and the international organization UNESCO.
  More information in French: http://www.chemins-compostelle.com/Dossiers/ACIR-Diner-Ministere-Culture.html