Lydie Polfer Elected to Board of Directors of Organisation of World Heritage Cities

Mayor of Luxembourg City Lydie Polfer has been elected to the Board of Directors of the Organisation of World Heritage Cities (OWHC) for a two-year term.

The City of Luxembourg recently sent a delegation composed of Mayor Lydie Polfer, Cultural Coordinator Christiane Sietzen and Head of Urban Planning Department Shaaf Milani-Nia to the 15th World Congress of the OWHC in Krakow, Poland.

At the General Assembly, Lydie Polfer was elected to the Board of Directors of the OWHC for a two-year term, as were the mayors of Krakow (Poland), Bruges (Belgium), Cusco (Peru), Gyongjiu (South Korea), Philadelphia (United States), San Miguel de Allende (Mexico) and Suzhou (China). The Mayor of Krakow has been elected President of the organisation and Robert Quarles van Ufford has been appointed as the new Secretary General.

The Organisation of World Heritage Cities is a network of more than 300 cities from around the world on the UNESCO World Heritage List, such as the City of Luxembourg, whose old neighbourhoods and fortifications been on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 17 December 1994. The objectives of the OWHC are to promote the implementation of the World Heritage Convention, to encourage cooperation and the exchange of information and expertise on issues of conservation and heritage management and to develop a sense of solidarity among the member cities, grouped into eight general secretariats.

Within the OWHC, the City of Luxembourg is a member of the regional secretariats "North-West Europe and North America" ​​and "Southern Europe and the Mediterranean". In the context of the celebrations of the 25th anniversary of the registration of the old neighbourhoods and fortifications of Luxembourg on UNESCO's World Heritage List, the meeting of the North West Europe and North America Regional Committee of the OWHC will take place from 24 to 26 September 2020 in Luxembourg City.