World Cultural Heritage
To ensure the effective implementation of the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage (1972) in the cluster countries the UNESCO Moscow Office supports initiatives aimed at the protection, rehabilitation and safeguarding of cultural and natural heritage. On the regular basis the Office organizes regional consultative meetings and trainings for heritage professionals from the cluster countries in the sphere of protection, restoration and safeguarding of cultural and natural heritage.
Today 33 cultural and natural sites located on the territories of the cluster countries are inscribed on the World Heritage List (3 sites in Armenia, 2 sites in Azerbaijan, 4 sites in Belarus, 1 site in the Republic of Moldova and 23 sites in the Russian Federation).
UNESCO Moscow Office endeavours to help cluster countries to develop cultural tourism at the World Heritage sites through various activities such as research and publication of studies that reveal the role of cultural tourism for safeguarding of cultural heritage, development of relevant cultural policies and creation of information materials (websites, compact disks) containing information about their cultural heritage.