From November 28 to December 3, Rabat (Kingdom of Morocco) will host the 17th session of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage.

The Intergovernmental Committee is one of the central bodies of the 2003 UNESCO Convention "On the Protection of Intangible Cultural Heritage." It was established under Article 5 of the Convention. There are 24 member states in the committee. One of the essential functions of the Committee is to make a final decision on the applications submitted by the member states for registration in the lists established by the convention.

More than 1,000 representatives from 125 countries of the world, including member states of the convention, representatives of non-governmental organizations operating under the auspices of UNESCO, observers, and media from different countries, are participating in the session. To participate in the session, Deputy Delegate of the Permanent Representation of the Republic of Armenia to UNESCO O. Davtyan and Chief Specialist of the Cultural Heritage Preservation and Popularization Department of the Department of Cultural Heritage and Folk Crafts of the RA KGSMS Ministry N. Kilichyan.

One of the critical issues on the agenda of the session is the discussion of applications submitted for registration from different countries. Fifty applications were submitted, of which four were for intangible cultural heritage in need of immediate protection, 46 were for inclusion in the representative lists of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity, 5 were proposals for the register of best practices for the safety, and two applications were for the intangible cultural heritage fund. To receive international assistance provided to member states by

The Republic of Armenia became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2003. The Convention "On Protection of Intangible Cultural Heritage" was ratified in 2006. and until now, "Duduk and his music" (2008), "Armenian khachkar art; The advice of khachkar and khachkar making" (2010), "Sasna Tsrer or performance manifestations of the epic of David of Sassoon" (2012), "Lavash; traditional bread preparation, significance and cultural manifestations in Armenia" (2014) and "Kochari; elements of traditional group dance. The NGO "Hazarashen" Armenian Center for Ethnological Research was accredited by UNESCO (2020). The periodic report of RA on the implementation of the Convention "On the Protection of Intangible Cultural Heritage" and the status of the elements included in the representative list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity was submitted to UNESCO ( 2021).