The 48th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee officially opened on 19 July 2026 at the BEXCO Exhibition and Convention Center in Busan, Republic of Korea.

This annual meeting is being held in the Republic of Korea for the first time since the country joined the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage in 1988. It brings together more than 3,000 delegates and international experts from 196 States Parties to the Convention. The session will continue its work until 29 July.

Turkmenistan is represented at the 48th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee by Chinar Rustemova, Executive Secretary of the National Commission of Turkmenistan for UNESCO, as well as by Begench Durdyyev, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Turkmenistan to the Republic of Korea.

UNESCO Director-General Khaled El-Enany and President of the Republic of Korea Lee Jae Myung delivered speeches at the opening ceremony of the session.

The speeches reaffirmed the fundamental value of World Heritage as a common civilizational legacy of humanity. It was also emphasized that the preservation of heritage requires coordinated efforts to address global challenges, including climate change, inequality between urban and rural areas, and uneven regional development.

The World Heritage Committee is one of the two governing bodies of the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage. It consists of representatives of 21 states elected from among the 196 countries that are Parties to the Convention. During the current session, Committee members will review the state of conservation of existing sites, 33 proposals for the inscription of new sites on the World Heritage List, and conservation plans for 147 properties previously included on this List.

Following the results of the 48th session, the Busan Declaration is planned to be adopted, outlining the strategic goals of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee.