The opening ceremony, held on Sunday morning, was moderated by Liu Jie, Governor of Zhejiang Province. Speakers included Jiang Xinzhi, Vice Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference; Wang Hao, Secretary of the CPC Zhejiang Provincial Committee; and Rao Quan, Vice Minister of Culture and Tourism and Administrator of the National Cultural Heritage Administration. The international dimension of the forum was underlined by addresses from Lina Mendoni, Minister of Culture of Greece, and Nayef Al-Fayez, UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Culture.
One of the highlights of the day was the signing of two cooperation agreements. The first links China’s National Cultural Heritage Administration with the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property, known as ICCROM. The second is a strategic cooperation memorandum between the Alliance for Cultural Heritage in Asia and the International Alliance for the Protection of Heritage in Conflict Areas, ALIPH. Both commitments strengthen the protection of heritage as a shared responsibility.
The plenary session closed with a series of high-level keynote speeches. Archaeologist Chen Xingcan, President of the Archaeological Society of China, and Professor Dorian Fuller of the Institute of Archaeology at University College London offered a scientific perspective on the origins of civilisations. They were joined by Pansy Ho, Chairperson of the Advisory Board of the Alliance for Cultural Heritage in Asia; Michael Pearson, World Heritage advisor and former Chairman of Australia ICOMOS; architect Huang Yinwu of Shanghai Jiao Tong University; and Raphael Callou, General Director of Culture at the Organization of Ibero-American States, whose presence brought the voice of Ibero-America into the debate.
Following the opening, the programme unfolds across five thematic sessions, one of them devoted to the balance between conservation, transmission and sustainable tourism. Today’s agenda, on Monday 19 October, includes a key event in that field. The high-level roundtable “Embracing the Future: Cultural Heritage Preservation, Transmission and Sustainable Tourism”, moderated by Peter DeBrine, Senior Coordinator of UNESCO’s Sustainable Cultural Tourism Programme, will feature Antonio Santos del Valle, President of the Tourism and Society Think Tank. His contribution will bring the think tank’s view on the relationship between tourism, society and heritage, with a focus on local communities.
Santos del Valle will share the panel with Raphael Callou of the Organization of Ibero-American States; Abdulrahman Alsuhaibani, Vice President of Culture at the Royal Commission for AlUla in Saudi Arabia; and Carolina Pérez Dattari, heritage expert and former Undersecretary of Cultural Heritage of Chile, who will also deliver the session’s keynote address. The format, dynamic and participatory, combines short presentations from each panellist with an open dialogue with the moderator to draw practical lessons for heritage destinations.
The morning will conclude with a good practice session featuring experiences such as the management of the Liangzhu site itself, the work of the Robben Island Museum in South Africa and the perspective of the hospitality sector in Da Nang, Vietnam, together with insights from Professor Mike Robinson, Vice-Chair of the UK National Commission for UNESCO.
With this edition, the Liangzhu Forum consolidates its role as a platform for dialogue between civilisations and shows that the past, when well protected and well shared, remains a source of inspiration for building a more sustainable future.
