18th General Assembly of  State Parties to the World Heritage Convention was held at UNESCO HQ on November 7-9. Georgian delegation headed by Mr. Nikoloz Vacheishvili, Director of the National Agency for Cultural Heritage Preservation of Georgia, participated in the event.

During the General Assembly, the Georgian delegation held a working meeting with the UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Culture, Mr. Francesco Bandarin, representatives of the World Heritage Center and ICOMOS.

The General Assembly elected nine new members to the World Heritage Committee: Algeria, Colombia, Germany, India, Japan, Malaysia, Qatar, Senegal and Serbia.

The World Heritage Committee, which is responsible for the implementation of the Convention, meets once a year and reviews requests by States Parties for inscription of  new cultural and natural heritage sites on the World Heritage List as well as the state of conservation of sites already inscribed. Its next, 36th session will be held from June 24 to July 6, 2012.