A work meeting has taken place concerning the extension of the "Golden Mountains of Altai" World Heritage site

Experts from Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Russia met on August 5-6 in the Kosh-Agach settlement (the Altai Republic) to discuss the issue of extension of the Golden Mountains of Altai" World Heritage site (the Russian Federation) by adding adjacent Mongolian and Kazakh SPAs.

The participants included representatives of the SPAs, scientific and public agencies from Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Russia. The meeting has resulted in a series of proposals, the main of which are the following:

• Submit to the relevant authorities of Kazakhstan, Mongolia and the Russian Federation a proposal on forming a serial transboundary World Heritage property by extending the "Golden Mountains of Altai" World Heritage site.
• Prepare applications to include the Katon-Karagaisky National Park, Markakolsky State Nature Reserve (Kazakhstan) and the Altai Tavan Bogd Natural Park (Mongolia) in the Kazakhstan's and Mongolia's Tentative Lists before Febryary 2010.
• Request the Mongolian National Commission for UNESCO to apply to the World Heritage Fund for financial assistance to organize an international conference on the nomination of the serial transboundary site to the World Heritage List.
• Apply for the support of UNDP/GEF offices in Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Russia to facilitate the nomination process.

The idea to create a serial transboundary World Heritage site in the Altai region echoes the UNDP/GEF Altai-Sayan project on the establishment of a transboundary biosphere reserve. If government support for the new initiative is obtained, the above mentioned SPAs may be added to the Kazakhstan's and Mongolia's Tentative Lists (as extentions to the "Golden Mountains of Altai") before the end of this year, and the nomination dossiers can be prepared in 2010.

• Resolution of the International Working Meeting Prospects of the Extension of the "Golden Mountains of Altai" UNESCO World Heritage Site