Unesco meets in Spain to decide new World Heritage sites

A Unesco committee met in southern Spain to decide which of 27 sites deserved to be added to its World Heritage List.

The World Heritage Committee of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation is to decide on new entries to the list that now has 878 sites from 145 countries.

But of the 30 sites initially proposed, three have withdrawn, said a Unesco spokesman, without elaborating.

The committee began formal talks in the southwestern city of Seville after an opening ceremony at 6 p.m. (1600 GMT) yesterday attended by Spanish Culture Minister Angeles Gonzalez-Sinde. The meetings are expected to continue until June 30.

The eastern German city of Dresden is expected to lose its world heritage status after city authorities moved ahead with the construction of a bridge that Unesco officials say will destroy the landscape.

Three countries are hoping to join the list for the first time - Burkina Faso, Cape Verde and Kyrgyzstan. And the works of Swiss architect Le Corbusier in Argentina, Belgium, France, Germany, Japan and Switzerland may also be added.

Experts will decide whether Burkina Faso's Loropeni Ruins, the remains of a fortified village, are "works of outstanding universal value" along with the historic town centre of Ribeira Grande in Cape Verde.

Kyrgyzstan may receive its first Unesco recognition for the Sulaiman-Too Mountain in the Ferghana valley, whose caves and stones are considered unique in Central Asia's Muslim heritage.

Two French sites may be downgraded to the "list in danger": the city of Bordeaux due to the construction of a bridge and the Lascaux caves where prehistoric paintings are under threat from bacteria.

Unesco hands out some four million dollars every year for conservation projects and encourages technical cooperation between countries to help preserve heritage sites. The special status also provides a boost for tourism.

China has two entries this year, Mount Wutai in Shanxi, one of the four mountains considered sacred in Chinese Buddhism and the historical monuments of Mount Songshan, a revered site of Taoism, in Henan province.

South Korea is asking for world heritage status for the Cretaceous Dinosaur Coast, home to many fossilised dinosaur eggs and footprints, and the Royal Tombs of the Joseon Dynasty.

The Austrian city of Graz is vying for recognition as is the 14th century historic centre of Jajce in central Bosnia-Hercegovina.

Unesco added 27 new sites to its World Heritage List at its meeting in Quebec City, Canada last year.

They included the Baha'i Holy Places in Haifa and Western Galilee in Israel and the ancient Ottoman town of Berat in Albania.