INTRODUCTION
IX.20 The Committee recalled that the World Heritage Committee at its seventeenth session and the Bureau at its eighteenth session examined reports on the state of conservation of seven natural and six cultural properties inscribed on the List of World Heritage in Danger and on seventeen natural and fifty-nine cultural properties on the World Heritage List.
IX.21 The Committee commended the States Parties which had responded to its recommendations or observations and urged the States Parties which had not done this, to do so. In this context, the Committee emphasized that, according to the Operational Guidelines, one of the essential functions of the Committee is to monitor the state of conservation of properties inscribed on the World Heritage List and that a continuous communication between the Committee and the states Parties regarding the state of conservation of the World Heritage sites is indispensable in this respect.
IX.22 The Committee examined the state of conservation reports prepared by the secretariat and the advisory bodies and concluded the following:
[see following decisions]