"Congo - Nature and Culture in the Democratic Republic of Congo"

On Thursday 9 September, the Director-General of UNESCO together with H.R.H. Prince Philippe of Belgium, Mr Z’Ahidi Ngoma, Vice-President of the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Mr De Decker, Belgian Minister for Co-operation and Development, inaugurated the exhibition "CONGO - Nature and Culture in the Democratic Republic of Congo".

Curated by the Royal Museum for Central Africa (Tervuren, Belgium), the exhibition presents a multi-themed exhibition to discover the links uniting humans and nature in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

In his opening speech, the Director-General thanked the Belgian Government for their generous support of the event, which promotes a better understanding of "the inextricable links between culture and nature in the DRC".

Recalling that the five natural sites in the DRC are all inscribed on both the World Heritage List and the List of World Heritage in Danger, the Director-General expressed his wish that this exhibition and the events organized at UNESCO Headquarters until the 24 of September, such as the International Donors Conference scheduled the 16 and 17 September, will stimulate a "massive mobilisation to conserve this fragile heritage, which constitutes an immense potential for the sustainable development of the country".