Places of Commemoration, Signing of Italy-U.S. Agreement

18 December 2008

Cultural Affairs Minister Sandro Bondi, Warren Miller - Chairman of the U.S. Commission for the preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad, and Under Secretary to the Presidency of the Council of Ministers Gianni Letta

Cultural Affairs Minister Sandro Bondi with Ambassador Ronald P. Spogli

(The scope of the Agreement is to protect the sites and properties that represent the cultural heritage of victims of genocide during the Second World War)

Rome —Cultural Affairs Minister Sandro Bondi and Warren Miller, Chairman of the U.S. Commission for the preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad, signed this afternoon at Palazzo Chigi the Agreement on the Protection and Preservation of Places of Commemoration in the presence of the Under Secretary to the Presidency of the Council of Ministers Gianni Letta and Secretary General Mauro Masi.  The scope of the Agreement is to protect the sites and properties that represent the cultural heritage of victims of genocide during the Second World War.

The Agreement, promoted by the U.S. Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad and by the Italian Ministries of Foreign Affairs and of Culture, is an additional instrument for the protection of minorities and is a signal of growing integration among different ethnic groups to which our Governments looks at with great attention.

The Agreement establishes a joint task force to identify a list of cultural heritage sites of special significance, and of related items of cultural heritage, in danger of deterioration or destruction.

With this Agreement, Italy and the United States are included among those countries that are eager to promote the protection of the cultural heritage of ethnic and religious minorities, recognizing Places of Commemoration as learning instruments on the cultural and historic level and as instruments of understanding values of civilization.  Their deterioration or their disappearance would be a serious loss for the historic and cultural heritage of humanity.

The Agreement contributes to enhancing our already excellent bilateral relations.