The Director General and the Director of the World Heritage Centre met on 5 February 2016 with a Delegation from Slovak Republic including Mr František Palko, State Secretary of the Ministry of Transport, Construction, and Regional Development of the Slovak Republic and Ms. Ivana Magátová, Director General of the Tourism Section of the Ministry of Transport, Construction, and Regional Development of the Slovak Republic accompanied by the Ambassador and Permanent Delegate of the Slovak Republic to UNESCO.
The delegation discussed potential areas of collaboration relating to sustainable tourism at World Heritage properties. The Slovak Republic was recently elected to the Executive Council of UNWTO. Promoting sustainable tourism is a top priority for the State Party. The involvement of local communities and benefits for people living in and around World Heritage sites, including serial transnational sites such as the Beech Forests (Germany/Slovakia/Ukraine) were also among the topics discussed.
