V.216 The Secretariat informed the Bureau on the recommendations made during the Workshop organized in November 1999 by the Centre, the Delft University and the Lebanese American University. This Workshop was held further to another workshop organized by the same bodies and held in April 1999, and its proceedings were made public only recently (April 2001).
V.217 The attention of the Bureau was drawn to the need that these recommendations be carefully evaluated and taken into account by the concerned Lebanese authorities in view of the safeguarding of the site, with special regard to the possibility of expanding the buffer zone of the World Heritage site, including the two beaches to the North and South of the historic city, thus preventing any unwanted urban developments.
V.218 The Bureau noted that a large cultural heritage project is being implemented by the World Bank, which should be considered as an extraordinary opportunity to implement a coherent and sustainable management policy at the site.
V.219 ICOMOS supported the recommendations made by the two workshops and informed the Bureau that a technical mission is due to visit Byblos in August 2001. The Bureau recommended that the results of both workshops organized in 1999 be disseminated and discussed among the concerned parties (DGA, MOT, the Municipality of Byblos, World Bank Project). The Bureau stressed the importance of considering the findings of the above-mentioned workshops when defining the scope of the World Bank project’s activities.