Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and Macedonia Foreign Minister Ilinka Mitreva Sign Cultural Preservation Agreement

Secretary of State Colin L. Powell met today at the State Department with Macedonian Foreign Minister Ilinka Mitreva. The two discussed a range of bilateral and regional issues, focusing on Macedonia’s reform agenda and its NATO accession aspirations. During their meeting, they also signed an agreement on the Protection and Preservation of Certain Cultural Properties.

This agreement pledges the governments to help identify and preserve places of worship, cemeteries, monuments and historic sites and archives, and to ensure equal access of all cultural groups. It also establishes a Joint Cultural Heritage Commission to work on cooperative efforts in these areas. The Commission will be composed of members from the Washington-based U.S. Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad, and from the Macedonian Ministry of Culture.