Resolution 2 GA 1-6

Opening of the General Assembly by the Director-General or his representative

1. The Second General Assembly of States Parties to the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage (1972) met in Paris on 24 November 1978.
2. Of the 40 States which were Parties to the Convention as at 24 November 1978, and thus had the right to vote, the following 34 States were represented at the meeting :

 

Algeria	Jordan
Argentina	Morocco
Australia	Nepal
Bolivia	Niger
Brazil	Nigeria
Bulgaria	Norway
Canada	Pakistan
Costa Rica	Panama
Cyprus	Poland
Ecuador	Senegal
Egypt	Sudan
Ethiopia	Switzerland
France	Tunisia
Federal Republic of Germany	United Republic of Tanzania
Iran	United States of America
Iraq	Yugoslavia
Italy	Zaire

3. Representatives of the following States also participated, as observers, in the General Assembly : Belgium, Chile, Finland, the German Democratic Republic, Guatemala, the Holy See, Indonesia, Japan, the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Madagascar; Mauritania, Nicaragua, Romania, San Marino, and Spain. Eight International organizations including the three advisory organizations to the World Heritage Committee, namely the International Centre for Conservation (ICCROM), the International Council of Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), and the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) also attended the meeting in an observer capacity.

4. The list of the participants at the meeting is given in the annex to this document.

5. The Secretariat of the meeting was assumed by the Secretariat of Unesco.

6. M. Makaminan Makagiansar, Assistant Director-General for Culture and Communication of Unesco, opened the meeting, and, on behalf of the Director General and himself, welcomed the delegates of States Parties and the other participants. He underlined the essential role of the Convention for the work of Unesco. Its objectives were, on the one hand, to preserve the testimony of man's creative genius and of the rich resources of nature, and, on the other hand, to help to improve the quality of life, and to promote cultural identity. Mr. Makagiansar then went on to review the progress achieved since the first General Assembly with respect to the implementation of the Convention, noting with pleasure the increase in the number of States who had become Parties to the Convention. He also informed the General Assembly of the work undertaken by the Committee since its inception. After expressing the hope that other States would join those who had already ratified or accepted the Convention, he reminded the Assembly of the two principal tasks before it, namely the election of members of the Committee, and the determination of the amount of the contribution to the World Heritage fund, as foreseen in Article 16, paragraph 1, of the Convention.