PM Orban: We want to register Rosia Montana with UNESCO

Act Media | 29 January 2020

PM Orban: We want to register Rosia Montana with UNESCO

Prime Minister Ludovic Orban on Tuesday stated that the National Liberal Party (PNL) Government wants to register the Rosia Montana site as a World Heritage site on the UNESCO World Heritage List, with Minister of Culture Bogdan Gheorghiu to hold consultations on this topic with the representatives of the Romanian state in the litigation at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID).

"PNL has been a supporter of this idea of the registration [of the Rosia Montana site - editor’s note] on UNESCO’s World Heritage List since the very beginning. We are not the ones who blocked the procedure, but the PSD governments were. (...) I asked the Minister of Culture to analyze, consult with the other ministries and especially with those who represent us in the unfolding dispute we have at the ICSID, in which the company has sued the Romanian state and asks for compensation. We need to be certain first that we do not interfere in any way in this dispute. But our decision is very clear. We want the inclusion of Rosia Montana, the site, on UNESCO’s list," Orban said on Tuesday at Parliament.

On Monday, the Minister of Culture, Bogdan Gheorghiu, said that the procedure for the inclusion on the UNESCO World Heritage List of the Rosia Montana site must clearly be resumed, with the Government to make a decision soon if the timing is right to resume procedures for registering the site with UNESCO.

"The value of the Rosia Montana site is already recognized by the international and national forums, and the procedure for the inclusion on the UNESCO list must be clearly resumed. After the inter-ministerial consultations, a decision will be made at the Government level regarding the timing of the resumption of the registration procedures," said the Minister of Culture, according to a statement.

source: Act Media