The 11th international meeting of UNESCO Category 2 Centres working for the preservation of the living heritage of humanity will take place on 5 and 6 September in Plovdiv. The Forum is held in Bulgaria on the initiative of the Regional Centre Sofia - UNESCO, with the support of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Bulgaria, the Municipality of Plovdiv and the Ancient Plovdiv Municipal Institute.

The Forum also marks the 20th anniversary of the signing of the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. Plovdiv will host experts from Algeria, China, Iran, Japan, Peru, the Republic of Korea and the United Arab Emirates. During the working sessions, all new trends in the field, challenges for Category 2 centres, strategically planned cooperation activities at international level will be discussed.

The event will be held in the Small Early Christian Basilica of Philippopolis and will be opened by the Minister of Culture Krustyu Krastev, the Director of the Capacity-Building Division at UNESCO Susanne Schnutgen, the Deputy Mayor for Culture, Archaeology and Tourism of Plovdiv Plamen Panov, the Director of the State Cultural Institute at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Snezhana Yoveva-Dimitrova, the Director of the Regional Centre Sofia - UNESCO Irena Todorova.

During their visit the delegates will visit the Bishop's Basilica of Philippopolis, emblematic places and events in the Old Town of Plovdiv, as well as the Regional Ethnographic Museum.

The annual meetings of the Category 2 Centres will start in 2013 again in Sozopol, Bulgaria. After that, forums are organized in Paris, Gueiang, Shiraz, Algeria. The purpose of the regular meetings is to improve communication between the Centres and effective exchange between the network and UNESCO. The Regional Centre Sofia - UNESCO is one of the 8 centres dedicated to the conservation of global living heritage and is managed by an entirely Bulgarian team.