The Director General of UNESCO, Koichiro Matsuura, visited the Dominican Republic for the opening of the National Commission of the UNESCO at Luperon 105 in the Colonial City. Matsuura was accompanied by President Hipolito Mejia and Culture Minister Tony Raful for the launch of the new office. During his visit, he met with Education Minister Milagros Ortiz Bosch, Foreign Relations Minister Frank Guerrero, Superior Education Minister Andres Reyes and Environment Minister Frank Moya Pons. He also visited Congress to lobby for the legislation of the October 2003 International Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage. The presidents of both the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate committed themselves to the convention’s approval, which would specifically provide for the formation and protection of national inventories of cultural property, the establishment of an Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, composed of experts from future States Parties to the Convention, and the creation of two lists – a Representative List of the Intangible Heritage of Humanity and a List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding. See 132540e.pdf