Brussels, 08/04/2013 (Agence Europe) -European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth Androulla Vassiliou will attend the Council of Ministers of Culture of South East Europe (CoMoCoSEE) meeting in Brdo, Slovenia on 8-9 April. Irina Bokova, UNESCO Director General, and Snezana Samardzic-Markovic, Director General for Democracy at the Council of Europe will also attend the meeting. South-east European culture ministers will discuss policies and frameworks for enhancing cultural and artistic education, the thematic priority of the Slovenian Presidency of the assembly this year. Following on from the final declaration adopted at the eighth ministerial conference on cultural heritage in south-east Europe (Sofia, Bulgaria, 24-25 October 2012), they will also discuss the creation of a new ministerial platform combining culture and development in the region.
The region is home to around 60 sites on the UNESCO World Heritage List. The need to protect and promote this priceless heritage helped to inspire the creation of the Council of Ministers of Culture of South East Europe in 2005, representing 12 countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), Slovenia and Turkey). The ministerial assembly's objective is to promote cultural and artistic cooperation between regional actors, the European Union, Council of Europe and UNESCO. The European Commission is particularly supportive of the assembly's activities, and the European Union has already helped fund cultural projects in the region. The new “Creative Europe” (2014-2020) programme will also be open to these countries on an equal footing with EU member states, explained the European Commission. (IL/transl.fl)