He emphasized that the desire to preserve the diversity of cultural and natural heritage has made it possible to accomplish noteworthy actions and to strengthen the feeling of belonging to a world community working towards greater tolerance, solidarity and peace.
He informed the General Assembly that the Director-General of UNESCO had signed several Green Notes concerning the role of the World Heritage Centre and its relations with other units within the Secretariat, in order to rationalise its procedures and to increase its field of action.He also requested the States Parties to make an effort to settle outstanding dues to the World Heritage Fund, now amounting to a total of more than two million US dollars.