UNESCO organizes many different types of meetings, in order to promote and implement the Underwater Cultural Heritage Convention.

Statutory meetings are those that are organized out of a legal obligation contained in the 2001 Convention.

• The Meeting of States Parties to the Convention is its main organ. It gathers the representatives of its States Parties, as well as observers from other UNESCO Member States, delegates from accredited NGOs and invited experts. The Meeting is convened in ordinary session by the Director-General of UNESCO at least once every two years. At the request of a majority of States Parties, the Director-General can convene an extraordinary session and has done this already once in 2009, shortly after the entry into force of the Convention in order to speed up its implementation process.

• The Scientific and Technical Advisory Body is a subsidiary organ to the Meeting of States Parties and assists it in questions of a scientific or technical nature. It meets usually once a year, but does also operate through missions and electronic procedures.

Other meetings organized by UNESCO include:

• Regional intergovernmental  meetings
• National meetings
• Scientific Conferences
• Expert meetings

All meetings are organized along to UNESCO standards for meetings, according to category.

Categories of meetings

Programme meetings may be convened by UNESCO itself or jointly by UNESCO and a specialized agency. Programme meetings convened by UNESCO itself or jointly by UNESCO and a specialized agency are divided into the following eight categories:

(a)     Meetings of a representative character:

(i)      Category I - International conferences of States;

(ii)     Category II - Intergovernmental meetings other than international conferences of States;

(iii)    Category III - Non governmental conferences;

(b)     Meetings of a non representative character:

(iv)    Category IV - International congresses;

(v)     Category V - Advisory committees;

(vi)    Category VI - Expert committees;

(vii)   Category VII - Seminars and training or refresher courses;

(viii)  Category VIII - Symposia.