Meeting between Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation and Director General of UNESCO

Spain is the eleventh-highest regular and ongoing provider of voluntary contributions through the Spain-UNESCO Trust Fund. Spain is also a member of the Executive Council of UNESCO, having renewed its mandate for the period 2015-2019.

The Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation reviewed the areas in which our country cooperates with UNESCO with its Director General. At the latest Spain-UNESCO Joint Committee, projects were approved for a sum of 2.4 million dollars for the two-year period 2017-2018, with priority given to the sectors of Science, Culture and Education.

The minister also underlined that the protection of cultural heritage is particularly important for our country. We are the third-highest country in the world in terms of the number of monuments registered on the list of World Heritage Sites and fourth on the list of UNESCO intangible heritage following the recent incorporation of Falles [traditional Valencian celebration].

To end, the minister recalled Spain's interest in ratifying the 2001 Convention on the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage and our support for the UNESCO strategy for the protection of cultural heritage in zones of conflict in 2015. Spain has pledged a 120,000-euro contribution to the fund to support this strategy.