Bolivia hosted the 2nd Ministerial Meeting of the ACF, which took place in La Paz on the 13th of July 2018. Apart from the host, FM of Bolivia Mr. Fernando Huanacuni Mamani, the meeting was also attended by the Greek Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Nikolaos Kotzias, the Chinese Assistant Minister of Culture, Mr. Yu Qun, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for International Research and Education, Mr. Seyed Mohammad Kazem Sajjadpour and the Armenian DFM, Mr. Ashot Hovakimian. Italy, Iraq, Egypt were represented at Ambassador’s level and Peru at the level of General Director of the Foreign Ministry.
The Greek FM handed over the Presidency of the ACF to his Bolivian counterpart. The latter announced that during the Presidency of Bolivia the following events are scheduled: an Academic Forum on 21/9/2018 in La Paz and a Civil Society Meeting on 21/12/2018 at Lake Titicaca Sun Island.
According to the adopted Declaration of Tiwanaku, the members agreed on providing the mandate for the creation of a permanent platform of dialogue and cooperation in the field of culture, aiming, among others, on the following:
- the intensification of efforts in achieving the objectives of the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property
- the promotion of achieving the objectives of the Intergovernmental Committee for Promoting the Return of Cultural Property to its Countries of Origin or its Restitution in case of Appropriation, including through providing support for countries negotiating for the legitimate right of return or restitution of their cultural property
- the establishment of procedures to incorporate prospective new Member States to the ACF
- the undertaking of activities related to the Forum and promoting the participation of other States as observers in the first instance, subject to prior consensus
- the conducting of dialogue and consultations with a view to reaching coordinated positions on issues related to the protection of cultural heritage within the relevant international organizations, such as UNESCO.
The participants mandated the Academic Forum to conduct a study and prepare a report to be presented to the next Ministerial Meeting.
Furthermore, participants mandated the Permanent Delegations of the Forum’s MS to UNESCO and other official channels with a coordination role, concerning the activities of the Forum and the relevant national authorities.
The participants also welcomed the Republic of Armenia as a full-fledged member of the Forum.
Finally, China noted that it will give a positive consideration of hosting the next Ministerial Meeting of the Forum.