On 20 and 21 July, a regional consultation meeting, ‘Intangible Heritage Beyond Borders: Safeguarding through International Cooperation’, was held in Bangkok. The meeting gathered more than 30 government representatives from across the Asia-Pacific region aiming to strengthen international cooperation for the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage and preventing conflicts that might otherwise arise over the ownership, exploitation or misinterpretation of intangible heritage. The focus on intangible cultural heritage is exceptionally pertinent: contrary to monuments, intangible heritage is embedded only in humans and their locations often change without heed of national borders.

The meeting allowed for officials to discuss the issue of international cooperation, and address debates which were stimulated by presentations given by experts from Africa, Latin America, and Asia focussing the issue of intangible shared heritage, shared across borders.

Documents

• Agenda: English
• Background paper: English
• List of participants: English
• Opening remarks - Cécile Duvelle: English: presentation - speech
• Opening remarks - Gwang-Jo Kim: English
• Session 1: Diffuse heritage and diffuse communities - M.Silverse Anami, Kenya: English
• Session 2: Culture Beyond Borders, The Case of Tango - Ms.Isabel Sans, Uruguay: English
• Session 3: Rural to Urban and International Migration: Implications for Intangible Cultural Heritage - M.Rahul Goswami, India: English

Contact in Apia UNESCO office : Tim Curtis