The fourth Transboundary Platform Meeting of the project “Towards strengthened governance of the shared transboundary natural and cultural heritage of the Lake Ohrid region” will take place on 27 and 28 October 2016. This fourth meeting on transboundary cooperation is part of a European Union and UNESCO initiative aiming to reinforce conservation and sustainable development in the entire Lake Ohrid region.

The fourth Transboundary Platform Meeting will take place in Struga, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. On this occasion, representatives from the Macedonian Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning and Ministry of Culture; from the Albanian Ministry of Environment and Ministry of Culture; from the Albanian National Agency on Protected Areas; as well as members of the joint secretariat of the transboundary Water Management Committee for Lake Ohrid; representatives from the local governments around the lake and UNESCO, will get together to pursue their work in establishing a viable cooperation platform.

Transboundary Platform Meetings have been designed to facilitate management and collaboration between Albania and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to develop a strengthened management framework for the potential transboundary extension of the mixed World Heritage property: “Natural and Cultural Heritage of the Ohrid region” (the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) to the Albanian part.

The objective of this fourth Meeting will be to review progress made in the implementation of the abovementioned project and to discuss and agree on the steps to ensure greater synergies and complementarity between the management plans for the existing World Heritage property and the proposed extension, and promote, where appropriate, a shared journey for implementation and evaluation processes.

Lake Ohrid is a site of exceptional biodiversity within Europe and one of the world’s oldest lakes The lake’s surrounding area features the archeological remains of some of Europe’s earliest human settlements, as well as Slav monasteries dating from the 9th century, making the natural, cultural, and spiritual heritage of the region truly remarkable.

The area, situated in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, is inscribed on the World Heritage List as the property “Natural and Cultural Heritage of the Ohrid region” since 1979. The addition of the remaining third of the Albanian section of the lake to the World Heritage property would greatly enhance the integrity of this property as recommended by the World Heritage Committee in 2009.

More information about the Lake Ohrid region project can be found at: whc.unesco.org/en/lake-ohrid-region/