The Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe Annual Advisory Forum 2018, "Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe connecting cultural values, heritage sites and citizens: strategies and synergies in a global perspective", will take place on 26-28 September in Görlitz (Germany).

Organised by the Council of Europe (Enlarged Partial Agreement on Cultural Routes) in cooperation with the City of Görlitz, the Saxon Ministry of the Interior and the German Federal Foreign Office, this year’s Forum will discuss the strategies and synergies between European Cultural Routes and International Organisations (UNESCO, European Union, UNWTO…) concerned with the protection and the promotion of cultural heritage. The Annual Advisory Forum is an occasion to develop new initiatives and partnerships, as well as a platform for exchange of good practices from our Council of Europe member States, Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe and new cultural route projects, in line with the values of the Council of Europe.

Coinciding with the current European Year of Cultural Heritage, the 2018 Advisory Forum intends to create synergies and joint strategies between complementary programmes: the Forum will mainly explore the Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe existing and potential synergies with EU cooperation and EU Regional Strategies and policies, as well as with various European programmes, such as the European Heritage Days and the World Heritage List.

To mark this important occasion, an opening dinner will be organised at the Dom Kultury in Zgorzelec (Poland); the closing reception will take place at the Görlitz Theater, along with a cultural programme.

To attend the 2018 edition of the Advisory Forum, member States of the Council of Europe, Presidents of the associations managing the Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe and representatives from candidate cultural routes, International Organisations, local and regional authorities, along with academics, experts and representatives from the culture and tourism industry.