Brussels, 09/06/2005 (Agence Europe) - The first negotiating session ahead of the adoption of a UNESCO Convention on cultural diversity was successfully concluded in Paris on 3 June. The draft text was adopted and a recommendation worded to allow the Convention to be definitively ratified at the forthcoming general UNESCO conference in October. The draft stresses the legitimacy of cultural policies and encourages international cooperation. It also reaffirms respect for international obligations, whilst compelling the signatories to take account of the demands of cultural diversity when they apply and interpret their international obligations and when they negotiate new international agreements. "This is a first for international law", the European Commission noted with satisfaction, adding: "Community unity has been exemplary and has allowed the European Community to be one of the driving forces behind negotiations". It is worth noting that in these negotiations, the Commission was representing the interests of the European Union, in virtue of the mandate conferred upon it by the Council in November 2004. "We are looking forward to a positive outcome of these negotiations in the autumn, because this will be a unique opportunity to move international recognition forward (...), and to work around problems relating to cultural diversity and cultural policy", said Commissioner Jan Figel, in charge of culture, who was negotiating on behalf of the Commission. In its recommendations to UNESCO, the European Union stressed the need for the Charter to recognise the specific and dual nature (economic and cultural) of cultural goods and services, the role of public policies in the protection and promotion of cultural diversity, and to acknowledge the importance of international cooperation to face up to threats against cultural goods and contents. It also argued for the definition of these goods and services to be restrictive only in terms of guaranteeing that the "cultural policies" are not exploited for commercial negotiations on goods and services other than cultural ones. At their coordination meeting in Paris, the 25 Member States unanimously voiced their support for the result of the net negotiations.