General Assembly 2015

The fourth session of the General Assembly of the Regional Centre for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage in South-Eastern Europe under the auspices of UNESCO took place on March 10, 2015 in Central Park Hotel in Sofia (Bulgaria).

The meeting was opened by the Executive Director of the Regional Centre Sofia – Ms Mima Stoilova-Nikolova who welcomed all the participants, shared a few brief words about the activities of the Centre, the challenges facing it, and wished the General Assembly fruitful work while reminding the attendees that the GA is the supreme governing body of the RC and thus determines the course of its further development.

Ms. Maya Dobreva, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, also greeted the members of the General Assembly and expressed hope that in the course of 2015, Regional Centre Sofia would contribute to marking the 70^thanniversary of the establishment of UNESCO. She also stated her desire for the Centre to continue its positive and constructive development into the future.

Mr. Frank Proschan, representative of the UNESCO Director General to the General Assembly, declared open the fourth meeting of the General Assembly and presented to the participants the proposed agenda.

The session was held to the following agenda:
1.      Approval of the agenda
2.      Induction of new members of the General Assembly
3.      Discussion and adoption of the key documents of Regional Centre Sofia:

• Amendments to the Statutes
• Annual report 2014
• Financial report 2014
• Work plan for 2015
• Budget for 2015

4. Executive Board: presentation of the current Board аnd election of new members
   5.      Election of the Chairperson of the General Assembly
   6.      Setting the date for the next scheduled meeting of the General Assembly
   7.      MiscellaneousMajor results:
   Two new members admitted: Georgia and Greece.
   All key documents of the Regional Centre Sofia were discussed and approved by the members of the General Assembly – Amendments to the Statutes, Annual report 2014, Work plan for 2015 and financial documents.
   New Chairperson of the General Assembly was elected – Ms Zhulieta Sina Harasani – Director General of Directorate of Strategic Planning for Cultural Heritage and Diversity, Ministry of Culture, Albania.
   New Executive Board was elected:

• BULGARIA: Ms Maria Donska – General Secretary of the Bulgarian National Commission for UNESCO;
• BULGARIA: Prof. Stoyan Denchev – Representative of the International Association of National Folklore Federations;
• GREECE: Ms Stavroula Fotopoulou – Director of Modern Cultural Assets and Intangible Cultural Heritage, Hellenic Ministry of Culture, Education and Religious Affaires;
• SLOVENIA: Ms Bojana Rogelj Škafar – Director of the Slovene Ethnographic Museum;
• SERBIA: Ms Miroslava Lukic Krstanovic – Senior Scientific Associate of  the Institute of Ethnography SASA, Coordinator of Joint projects-Institute Ethnography SASA and Institute of Ethnology, Folklore with  Ethnographic Museum BAS;

Documents of the General Assembly 2015:
Agenda
Annual report 2014
Work plan for 2015