UNESCO provided financial and technical support to the Civil Society Forum (6-9 January), through the NGO responsible for its organization, the Centre for Documentation, Research and Training on the South West Indian Ocean (CEDREFI). UNESCO also contributed one of the panellists at a Forum workshop on 7 January on ‘Culture – its social values and potential for economic development’. The three-page Declaration of the Mauritius Civil Society Forum was presented to the Plenary of the MIM on 10 January.