As part of the policy initiated by the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan to strengthen international cooperation in the field of cultural heritage preservation and deepen partnerships with leading international expert organisations, a meeting was held on the sidelines of the 48th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee in Busan between Gayane Umerova, Chairperson of the Uzbekistan Art and Culture Development Foundation, and Teresa Patricio, President of ICOMOS, together with Celine Noguès-Weber, Director-General of ICOMOS.
The parties discussed the further development of cooperation between Uzbekistan and ICOMOS, including the implementation of the joint dialogue process on the conservation of UNESCO World Heritage properties in Uzbekistan, as well as the preparation of master plans for the country's historic cities.
Particular attention was given to expanding expert and technical cooperation, strengthening professional training programmes for heritage specialists, and advancing new joint initiatives aimed at the conservation and sustainable management of cultural heritage sites.