IX.22 The Chairperson thanked the Government of the Netherlands for hosting the Amsterdam Global Strategy meeting (March 1998) and the Committee, advisory bodies and observers for the rich and intensive debate. The Committee adopted the following decisions:
1) The Committee thanked the Delegate of Italy (who had chaired the Consultative Body in 1998) and all the members of the Consultative Body for their productive work on the technical issues and paid tribute to the work of the Global Strategy Expert Meeting held in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, in March 1998.
2) The Committee stressed the urgent need to establish a representative World Heritage List and considered it imperative to ensure more participation of those States Parties whose heritage is currently underrepresented on the World Heritage List. The Committee requested the Centre and the advisory bodies to actively consult with these States Parties to encourage and support their active participation in the implementation of the Global Strategy for a credible and representative World Heritage List through the concrete regional actions described in the Global Strategy Action Plan adopted by the Committee at its twenty-second session.
3) Given the purposes of the World Heritage Convention, the policy of the Committee regarding nominations should have two parts: (i) the Committee should value all nominations from all States Parties and (ii) the Committee should strategically expend its resources to increase nomination of sites from parts of the world which are presently not represented or underrepresented.
4) The Committee asked that when the Bureau examines new nominations at its future sessions, it take into account the debate of the twenty-second session of the Committee on the establishment of a representative World Heritage List.
5) The Committee requested the Centre to work with the advisory bodies, to further develop the revision of Section I of the Operational Guidelines and submit them to the twenty-third session of the Bureau. The Bureau should submit for adoption its recommendations to the twenty-third session of the World Heritage Committee.
6) The Committee urged the advisory bodies to pursue further work on breaking down the themes into sub-themes, taking into consideration the recommendations of relevant expert meetings. Particular attention should be given to secure the highest level of scientific and technical consensus. The advisory bodies are asked to report on progress made and suggest any concrete decisions to be taken by future sessions of the Committee.
7) The Committee requested that the Centre, in collaboration with the advisory bodies present a progress report on the implementation of the regional actions described in the Global Strategy Action Plan adopted by the Committee at its twenty-second session to the twenty-third session of the Committee.
8) The Committee requested that an agenda item on "Ways and means to ensure a representative World Heritage List" be presented to the twelfth General Assembly of States Parties to the World Heritage Convention in 1999. The twentythird session of the Bureau is asked to prepare the agenda item for the General Assembly.