HIST Attends the Inaugural World Heritage C2C Forum in Busan

On 20 July, the Inaugural World Heritage Category 2 Centres Forum, co-initiated by UNESCO World Heritage-related Category 2 Centres, convened at BEXCO in Busan, the Republic of Korea. The event brought together around 90 distinguished delegates, comprising officials from the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, representatives of nine World Heritage Category 2 Centres and relevant Korean cultural heritage authorities. The forum was hosted by Ms. Nayeon Lee from International Centre for the Interpretation and Presentation of World Heritage Sites (WHIPIC). Ms. Huo Sijia, Deputy Secretary-General of HIST, attended the forum and participated in its official unveiling ceremony.

Forum Theme：Strengthening Cooperation among World Heritage Category 2 Centres

Group Photo of all delegates

Opening Remarks

Mr. Hheng Nan Hong, Director of WHIPIC, delivered the opening remarks for the side event. He noted that the launch of the Category 2 Centres Forum during the 48th session of the World Heritage Committee is designed to strengthen global coordination and collboration among all World Heritage Category 2 Centres. He hoped that the forum would serve as an indispensable cross-regional hub to pool worldwide expertise and professional resources, promoting unified endeavours for the safeguarding, preservation and sustainable management of world heritage sites.

Following his speech, Mr. Nayef Al Fayez, UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Culture, and Mr. Kilbai Lee, representative of the Korea Heritage Service, took the floor respectively. They extended their warm congratulations on the official launch of the forum, and reiterated their commitment to fostering sustained international exchanges, with a shared vision of developing this platform into a central, permanent coordination mechanism that unites all global World Heritage Category 2 Centres.

On the forum，Mr. Albino Joopela, Director of African World Heritage Fund (AWHF), shared updates with all attendees regarding preparation progress of the next Category 2 Centres Coordination Meeting. The World Heritage Institute of Training and Research for the Asia and the Pacific Region (WHITRAP) will assume the role of host for this pivotal coordination gathering in 2028.

Unveiling Ceremony

Representatives from the nine Category 2 Centres jointly unveiled the forum plaque, symbolizing the formal establishment of the Inaugural World Heritage C2C Forum. Ms. Huo Sijia attended this symbolic unveiling session as a key representative of HIST. 

The Unveiling Ceremony

As HIST celebrates its 15th anniversary this year, it pledges to maintain proactive engagement in flagship international collaborative frameworks, including the newly established World Heritage Category 2 Centres Forum. Moving forward, HIST will deepen international relationships with fellow World Heritage Category 2 Centres worldwide, expand international cooperation network dedicated to heritage conservation and management, and further accelerate the innovation and scaled deployment of space technologies in the conservation and management of global heritage.