Paris - Cuba will participate in the 40th session of the World Heritage Committee of the Convention on the Protection of Cultural and Natural Heritage at UNESCO, scheduled from July 10 to 20 in Istanbul, Turkey.

Cuba will attend as a member State, after its election in November 2015 at the 20th Assembly of the State Parties of the Convention, diplomatic sources reported on Saturday.

Nilson Acosta, vice president of the National Council of Cultural Heritage (CNPC), and Aylem Hernandez, a specialist from the National Center for Protected Areas at the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment, will represent Cuba in this event.

Prior to the Istanbul meeting, the Youth Forum for Heritage is running. Cuba is represented by CNPC expert Celia Martinez.

Martinez has been active in the work of this event, along with young people from 30 countries, says a press release from the Cuban Permanent Mission at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

A meeting between official delegations of the Committee and young people attending this forum is scheduled for next week.

The Committee, made up of 21 member States, is the body responsible for monitoring and implementing the Convention.

Among its main functions is to examine the nominations submitted by the State Parties on cultural and natural properties of outstanding universal value, aspiring to be protected under the Convention and to register them at the UNESCO World Heritage List.