The 48th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee has started in Busan, South Korea. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.
One of the main events for Kazakhstan will be the consideration of the application to include the underground mosques of Mangystau and associated sacred sites in the World Heritage List.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan, the session runs from July 19 to 29. It has gathered about three thousand participants from 196 countries that are parties to the UNESCO Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, as well as representatives of international organizations and experts.
The opening ceremony was attended by President of the Republic of Korea Lee Jae-myung and UNESCO Director-General Khaled Al-Anani.
"Kazakhstan participates in the session as a member of the World Heritage Committee. It is here that the fate of the national nomination 'Rock Mosques of Mangystau and Associated Sacred Sites' will be decided," the Foreign Ministry said.
The sites in question are the shrines of Beket-ata, Karaman-ata, Shakpak-ata, Shopan-ata, and Sultan-epe. In recent years, preparations have been made in Mangystau: protected areas were defined, information boards were installed, photo and video materials were collected, scientific documents were prepared and sent to UNESCO headquarters in Paris.
In addition to Kazakhstan's application, the committee will consider 29 other new nominations for inclusion in the World Heritage List. Experts will also discuss the state of conservation of 147 sites already under UNESCO protection.
The work to promote the underground mosques of Mangystau to the World Heritage List was previously initiated by President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. He spoke about this at a meeting of the National Kurultai in Atyrau.
Earlier, Kursiv detailed the sacred sites of Kazakhstan.