The Chilean Ministry for Culture has announced that during the XIV General Assembly of the United Nations, Chile was elected to participate as a member of the World Heritage Committee for the period 2003 to 2007. The World Heritage Committee is composed of 21 representatives from 176 countries that ratified the Cultural and Natural World Heritage Convention. In addition to Chile, this year’s convention included New Zealand, the Netherlands, Norway, Japan, Lithuania and Benin. According to Sergio Bitar, Chilean Minister for Education, the importance of this representation is the ‘recognition of the work carried out by Chile through its public policies for the preservation of national heritage, through the National Monument Council.’ The Chilean delegation also obtained the support of UNESCO to carry out a seminar on Industrial Heritage, to take place in December. For further information in Spanish CLICK HERE.