Hon. Luka Denona, Head of the Croatian Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean (PAM), represented the Assembly at the Parmenides VII Forum on “Common heritage and technologies: Enhancement of heritage, a key to development”, organized by the Inter Academic Group for Development (GID), in Dubrovnik, Croatia, on 17-19 March 2015. GID is a PAM partner organization, with which a fruitful cooperation has been long established in the framework of both the PAM Economic Panel and the Academic Platform.
The three main topics of the Forum, namely Natural heritage: it’s value for development; Geological and archaeological heritages; Common heritage and urbanization – were examined mainly through their economical impact and training of the professionals involved in the conservation, rehabilitation and the promotion of the value of national heritage for development.
In his intervention, on behalf of PAM, Hon. Denona highlighted the economic aspect of heritage with respect to tourism and development of the Mediterranean countries and how PAM has tackled these issues in recent years and its future initiatives. He referred to the impact of tourism on water availability in the region which is a very critical and actual issue due to the peculiarities of the Mediterranean region and the high hydro-stress that many areas of the region suffer from. “Recently, PAM has analyzed the possibility to develop the concept of “Mediterranean tourism”, in order to attract tourists from the Far East, or the Americas, with special Mediterranean itineraries, which would allow tourists to visit several countries with a single trip to the region”, Hon. Denona said.
In connection with PAM’s future activities, a major event will be held in Malta next November, dedicated to tourism as a key for economic development and, “Again, the region should invest on this sector in terms of hospitality, infrastructure, food, monuments, restoration and related leisure activities, which are all key factors for job creation”, Hon Denona explained.
The unprecedented criminal operation by Daesh terrorist hordes who, in addition to the inhumane violence against civilians, started the systematic destruction of monuments and archaeological sites, as well as the looting, smuggling and sale of antiquities to finance their terror campaigns, will be the main topic of a dedicated parliamentary hearing, to be held in Rabat, Morocco, next May. The initiative, hosted by the PAM President, H.E. Dr. Mohamed Cheikh Biadillah, will be carried out by PAM in close cooperation with UNESCO, in response to a call by UN Secretary General and the UN Security Council (RES 2199 – 12.02.2015).
Finally, Hon. Denona referred to the ongoing work by PAM and the GID in preparation for the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding, which will strengthen the ties and better structure the cooperation between the two institutions in many sectors.