On July 19, 2026, the 48th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee officially opened 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 acceded to 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 until July 29.

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, and Begench Durdyyev, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Turkmenistan to the Republic of Korea.

The opening ceremony featured addresses by UNESCO Director-General Khaled El-Enany and President of the Republic of Korea Lee Jae-myung.

In their speeches, they reaffirmed the core value of World Heritage as a shared civilizational asset of humanity. It was also stated that heritage preservation requires concerted efforts to address global challenges, including climate change, urban-rural inequality, 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 from 21 States Parties elected from among the 196 countries participating in the Convention. During the current session, committee members will review the state of conservation of existing sites, 33 nominations for inscription on the World Heritage List, and conservation plans for 147 sites previously inscribed on the List.

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