Statement from the Chairperson of the World Heritage Committee

Since the Kingdom of Bahrain became for the first time a member of the prestigious World Heritage Committee in 2007, one of the objectives has been to welcome the distinguished delegates of the States Parties to the Convention in our country. For the last four years, all the Bahraini authorities have been working on the preparation of this exceptional event and we were honoured to  be approved by the Committee, at its last session, to host its 35th session in June 2011.

However, the strongest will and motivation can be confronted with unexpected challenges and there is no other choice, in that case, than to cope with them. One week ago, The Kingdom of Bahrain and UNESCO jointly decided to move the forthcoming session of the Committee from Manama to Paris, this decision being taken in the utmost interest of the Convention and its States  Parties.

The Kingdom of Bahrain wishes to express its gratitude to UNESCO and the Committee Member States for their confidence and to all States Parties for their continuous support to the efforts of  Bahrain in view of the reinforcement of the implementation of the World Heritage Convention.

Mai bint Mohammad Al-Khalifa
Chairperson of the World Heritage Committee
Minister of Culture
Kingdom Of Bahrain