Greece, UNESCO Advance Cultural Heritage Cooperation Plan with Africa
Culture Minister Lina Mendoni met with UNESCO's chief to discuss transferring Greek heritage expertise to African countries.
Greece and UNESCO are developing a new cooperation framework to bring Greek expertise in protecting and promoting cultural heritage to African countries. The initiative was discussed in Athens between Culture Minister Lina Mendoni, UNESCO Director-General Khaled El-Enany and Deputy Director-General for Culture Nayef Al-Fayez.
Talks focused on ways to support documentation, safeguarding and promotion of heritage, particularly intangible heritage, through targeted UNESCO-coordinated projects. Identified areas of cooperation include museum replica production, museology and museum administration, training of cultural heritage professionals, and heritage protection during public works.
Mendoni briefed El-Enany on Greece's upcoming UNESCO nominations, including the archaeological site of Nikopolis, whose bid for the World Heritage List is at an advanced stage. Greece is also preparing a candidacy for Cycladic cheese-making on UNESCO's Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage.
The discussions coincided with a symposium at the National Gallery on the relationship between artificial intelligence and living cultural heritage. Mendoni said AI's possibilities for heritage "are not neutral, or free of risk," calling for a human- and community-centered approach that addresses data governance and intellectual property rights.