Videoconference with the General Directorate for Development Cooperation, Italian Ministry for Foreign Affairs and with the Italian Executive Director

The videoconference has been organized by TUDUR in collaboration with the Office of the Italian Executive Director, as part of the initiatives entailing the partnership between the Italian Government and the Bank in the field of cultural heritage.

Mr. Giuseppe Deodato, Director General and Mr. Sebastiano Salvatori, Head of the Financial Office of the Directorate for Development  Cooperation, and respectively members of the Italian Trust Fund for Culture and Sustainable Development (ITFCSD)  Steering and Advisory Committee, attended the meeting on behalf of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The meeting was also attended by Mr. Francesco Bandarin, Director of the World Heritage Centre and  Mrs. Brigitte Moller, Director of the Division for Cooperation with Extra-budgetary Funding Sources of UNESCO, who were visiting the Bank in the same days as part of the UNESCO delegation meeting with Bank staff to discuss collaboration on culture and development.

The videoconference served to inform the Italian Authorities about the status of the activities financed through the Italian Trust Fund for Cultural and Sustainable Development (ITFCSD), and present them the Cultural Heritage and Development Group (CHDG), the new  partnership for cultural heritage.

The ITFCSD management as well as the establishment of CHDG has been recently entrusted to TUDUR, due to the consideration of the relation that most cultural heritage technical assistance and lending activities have with the urban sector.

A management group based in TUDUR and led by Vitor Serra is administering ITFCSD, implementing the functions concerning with information sharing, coordination, documentation, representation and promotion in support to Bank cultural heritage activities, and is completing the establishment of the CHDG.

Since its establishment by the Italian Government in 2000, ITFCSD has served as a major grant facility for Bank activities concerning the protection and valorization of cultural resources.

From 2000 to 2004 ITFCSD has provided 4.5 million dollars in grants for operational work, research, policy and program analysis, economic and sector studies and training, which have either contributed to the preparation and implementation of a Bank-financed operations and be used for small self-standing pilot projects.

Drawing on the virtuous experience of ITFCSD, and in order to reinforce the mainstreaming of the protection and proper use of culture assets as a vehicle to community development and poverty reduction, the Bank is moving towards the design of the Cultural Heritage and Development Group, a larger partnership involving different donor governments, foundations, private organizations, and funded through the establishment of a new multi-donor trust fund.

The CHDG is intended to bring together international experiences and know-how and channel it in support of Bank cultural heritage initiatives, improving, by this way, the quality and effectiveness of the technical assistance provided to member countries for the management and development of their cultural resources. 

CHDG can benefits from the technical support of specialized agencies as Mr. World Heritage Centre, which, as Mr. Francesco Bandarin reiterated to the Italian Authorities, will be committed in engaging common activities with CHDG. Mutually, as Mr. Bandarin also stressed, CHDG resources and initiatives can serve to strengthen the WHC – Bank collaboration in the conservation and promotion of natural and cultural heritage assets.

The Bank and the WHC agree in recognizing the Italian Government as a distinguished donor that has provided both institutions, separately as well as while working together, with an outstanding support. They believe this would now be fundamental in strengthening the capacity of CHDG.

They asked the Italian Authorities to consider to take part in the CHDG and continue by this way its support to the Bank activities in the field of cultural heritage.

The Italian Authorities deemed with great interest the proposed partnership and ensured to further the discussion about the modalities of their participation.

List of Participants:

Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Mr. Giuseppe Deodato, Director General

Mr. Sebastiano Salvatori, Head of Office VIII

General Directorate for Development Cooperation

UNESCO

Mr. Francesco Bandarin, Director, World Heritage Centre

Mrs. Brigitte Moller, Director Division for Cooperation with Extra-budgetary Funding Sources

Mrs. Suzanne Bilello, New York Office

Office of the Italian Executive Director, World Bank

Mr. Biagio Bossone, Executive Director

Mr. Marco Saladini, Adviser

TUDUR

Vitor Serra

Elvira Morella

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