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	14 November 2002 Mounir Bouchenaki Assistant Director-General for Culture of UNESCO “First off, the Convention calls for international solidarity among countries,” said Bouchenaki. Secondly, he pointed out how the Convention calls for a World Heritage Fund, through which richer countries can help poorer countries protect their World Heritage sites. And thirdly, how through technical assistance provided by the Convention, UNESCO is able to search for other partnerships with other institutions. “There are many examples of international cooperation,” said Bouchenaki, “the most recent is the restoration of historic buildings in Afghanistan through the help of several countries. ” He also mentioned agreements between the UNESCO World Heritage Centre and individual countries, such as Italy, Spain, France, the Netherlands, Australia or Japan where the Government gives additional voluntary contributions to the World Heritage Fund (the obligatory contribution being one percent of a country’s UNESCO dues) in order to help sites in post-conflict countries, sites on the In Danger List or those in developing countries. “Another successful example of international cooperation is the restoration of the Medina of Fez,” said Bouchenaki. “The Italian Government has given $800,000 USD to restore an old palace and transformed it into a national school for traditional music. These are concrete examples of public funds being used for World Heritage Conservation,” he added. Back