The ceremony of official handover of the joint Memorandum of Understanding between the Council of Europe and the UNWTO
The ceremony of official handover of the joint Memorandum of Understanding between the Council of Europe and the UNWTO
The ceremony of official handover of the joint Memorandum of Understanding between the UNWTO and the Council of Europe took place on 26 October 2016 during the opening of the Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe Forum in Vilnius, Lithuania.
Both the UNWTO and the Council of Europe stand for the sustainable development, preservation of heritage and international understanding. The Organizations provide a collaborative platform for the member states to cooperate and promote sustainable and responsible tourism.
The UNWTO has long been promoting the role of cultural itineraries, namely through the Silk Road initiative, but also with our engagement with others such as the Amber Route, the Great Tea Routes and the Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe.
Since the Cultural Routes Advisory Forum in Colmar in 2012, the two Organizations decided to formalize the cooperation. As a result the Memorandum of Cooperation was signed in 2016.
The main objectives of this Memorandum are to promote and foster close collaboration; to identify initiatives of common interest and to build on each other’s comparative advantages in the field of tourism and culture.
The cooperation is foreseen through sharing of knowledge and expertise; joint research, capacity building and the UN International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development.
During the plenary session of the Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe Forum the head of the UNWTO Silk Road Programme Ms Alla Peressolova gave a speech about the synergies between the UNWTO and the Enlarged Partial Agreement on Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe and underlined possible joint actions and necessity to work together in order to develop sustainable cultural and heritage tourism.
Speech of Ms Alla Peressolova, the head of the UNWTO Silk Road Programme