Solo, a cultural city located in Central Java, will host a World Heritage Cities Regional Conference for Euro-Asia from October 25 to 28, 2008, ANTARA reported. The conference will be participated in by around 400 people, including 33 mayors from member cities of the Organization of World Heritage Cities (OWHC), and 37 mayors from member cities of the United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) for Asia and Pacific, Sudharmono, secretary of the conference's organizing committee, said here on Wednesday. The theme of the International Conference of World Heritage Cities would be "Safeguarding of Intangible Heritage and Sustainable Urban Development". The regional conference to be organized by OWHC, will be a symposium dedicated to safeguarding the tangible and intangible heritages of historical cities, especially those whose masterpieces are inscribed in the World Heritage List of UNESCO. At the conference the Organization of World Heritage Cities for the first time will raise the issue of safeguarding intangible heritages and their use for the purpose of the cities` economic development. The concept of intangible cultural heritage includes customs and ceremonies, celebrations, oral traditions and crafts recognized as a part of cultural heritage and handed down from generation to generation. Every two years the conference gathers experts in the area of safeguarding historical cities and their use for attracting tourists and economic development, as well as mayors of world heritage cities, politicians and statesmen and provides them with opportunities to exchange experience and discuss problems in this field. Among the main speakers at the conference will be Eugenio Yunis, Chief of Sustainable Development of Tourism of the World Tourism Organization (WTO), Walter Santagata, Professor of Public Finance, Faculty of Political Science, University of Turin, Italy, Rieks Smeets, Chief of Intangible Cultural Heritage section of UNESCO, and Andi N Sommeng, Director General of Intellectual Properties Rights of the Indonesian Legal and Human Rights Ministry.
