- this evaluation process, it could accept the deadline of 2020. Moreover, it considered that, in parallel with the development of such a dialogue mechanism, more attention should be granted to capacity building and assisting States earlier in the preparation of their files.
- 80. The delegation of Peru congratulated the Chairperson on her election and thanked Mr Byong- hyun Lee and the two co-Chairs for the work carried out to bolster this very productive dialogue that had taken place in the ad hoc working group. The delegation noted from the statements by previous speakers that all agreed on the need for dialogue. However, as the Secretary and some delegations had pointed out, there needs to be a clear idea of the mechanism to which it alludes. As the Philippines had said from the outset, we should not be seeking to come up with some sort of remedy that is worse than the disease. Looking back at the achievements over the past few years, one could see that a lot of progress in fine- tuning the mechanism for inscription on the Representative List had been made. For example, the Committee had adopted a more conciliatory approach [to inscription] rather than outright rejection. There had also been amendments made to the various criteria, especially R.2, which had been particularly problematic. Another point worth recalling was the fact that there used to be two evaluation bodies, which had now merged into one single Evaluation Body. This now lends greater consistency and coherence to the work of the Evaluation Body. The delegation recalled the useful mechanism employed by the Secretariat in the period 2009 - 2012 when it carried out a substantive, preliminary analysis of the file before its submission to one of the two evaluation bodies that existed at that time. This mechanism had been eliminated owing to staff cutbacks and the financial difficulties in UNESCO. However, this mechanism could be reintroduced to improve the quality of the files. The delegation also agreed with those who advocated for dialogue, but the mechanism also had to be fine-tuned, otherwise the Committee might begin wandering off on some sort of experimental exercise that might actually complicate things even further. The Committee had been working cautiously and moving forward gradually and steadily, and it should continue in this way.
- 81. The Secretary remarked that the Assembly was now touching upon substantive issues related to inscriptions, which were beyond the report of the ad hoc working group. He recalled that in 2017 the Committee requested an open-ended working group subject to extrabudgetary funding to discuss the issue of the transfer of an element from one List to another and therefore the criteria for inscription. This would therefore be the forum to discuss the criteria themselves and the inscription process. Moreover, the open-ended working group was still on the agenda, awaiting extrabudgetary support.
- 82. The Chairperson thanked the Secretary for clarifying the points, which she supported as this was clearly an issue about evaluations, dialogue, and the transparency and independence of the Evaluation Body. She then proceeded to the draft resolution on a paragraph-by- paragraph basis. With no comments of objections, paragraphs 1 - 4 were duly adopted.
- 83. The delegation of the Philippines proposed a new paragraph 5, which would read, ' Recognizes the importance of dialogue to enhance the evaluation process and the need to develop an appropriate mechanism to strengthen transparency and credibility in consultation with the Evaluation Bod y.' The first part of the amendment had been adopted by the Committee in Jeju, and the second part, on the need to develop an appropriate mechanism, was a reaction to the debate, i.e., the issue was not about the concept of dialogue per se, but rather about finding the most appropriate and practical procedure in which dialogue should take place.
- 84. The delegation of Palestine supported the amendment by the Philippines, and proposed a small amendment in paragraph 6.
- 85. Noting the time, the Chairperson adjourned the session with the agenda item resuming in the afternoon.

### [Monday 4 June 2018, afternoon session]